A discovery that could help the fight against climate change and desertification.

 

Photo credit: The World Bank

Satellites find “hidden forests” helping fight against global warming

SUBMITTED BY UMBERTO BACCHI

Vast tracts of land previously considered barren are actually covered by forests “hiding in plain sight”, scientists said on Friday, a discovery that could help the fight against climate change and desertification.
An international team of researchers led by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) used new technology to analyse high-resolution images from Google Earth and map forest coverage in drylands worldwide.

They found that trees like baobab and acacia shade 467 million more hectares of land than previously thought – an area roughly equal to half the size of the United States – increasing estimates of global forest cover by at least nine percent.

The discovery allows for more accurate assessments of how much greenhouse gases are absorbed from the atmosphere by the world’s vegetation, FAO experts said.

“Drylands absorb more carbon than we thought and they can actually help mitigate climate change,” Eva Muller, director of FAO’s forestry policy and resources division told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.
The analysis, published in journal Science, would also help forestry experts better identify areas suitable for restoring trees and vegetation in a bid to slow down desertification, added Jean-Francois Bastin, one of the study’s authors.

In Africa only, some 60 million people could be forced to leave their homes within five years and two thirds of arable land could be lost by 2025 as land progressively turns into desert, according to the United Nations.

Read the full article: The World Bank

Newsletter of WeForest 🌎 🌿

WeForest 🌎 🌿 <contact@weforest.org>

“How much would it cost to halt global warming ?”

The economics are clear. The benefits of trees far outweigh the cost of planting and maintaining them. Restoring 350 million hectares to contain global warming requires between $79 and $130 Bn (or an average $7 Bn per annum over the next 15 years.

In 2014, global GDP amounted to about 77.3 trillion U.S. dollars[1], this total investment to contain global warming represents merely 0,001% of 1 years’ global GDP or 0,08% of 1 years’ global military spending[2].

If creative mechanisms where private contributions are matched by public grants can be developed, like in the WeForest Zambia project where a grant from Finland (CSEF) is covering 60% of the project costs, corporates will enjoy a huge positive impact with a minimal investment. Ask us about this opportunity to contribute in Zambia.

[1] Global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at current prices from 2010-2020 (in billion U.S. dollars): Statista. (2015),

[2] Reuters. (2015), Top News, , 02.06.2015.

Ogentroostlaan 15, B

Overijse 3090

Belgium

Plants, soil and climate change

Data was provided from CEH’s climate change manipulation experiment, which has been running for 18 years in Cloceanog forest, a wet Welsh upland site with a peat layer resulting from seasonal waterlogging. Credit: Rachel Harvey

 

Future climate change will affect plants and soil differently

A new study has found that soil carbon loss is more sensitive to climate change compared to carbon taken up by plants. In drier regions, soil carbon loss decreased but in wetter regions soil carbon loss increased.

Date:

March 7, 2017

Source:

Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Summary:

A new study has found that soil carbon loss is more sensitive to climate change compared to carbon taken up by plants. In drier regions, soil carbon loss decreased but in wetter regions soil carbon loss increased. This could result in a positive feedback to the atmosphere leading to an additional increase of atmospheric CO2 levels.

Read the full article: Science Daily

California grasslands will become less productive if temperature or precipitation increases

Grassland at Stanford University’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. An examination of 17 years of experimental data from the preserve is helping scientists from Rice University, Stanford and the Carnegie Institution for Science better understand how ecosystems will respond to climate change.Credit: Daniel J. Quinn/Stanford University

 

Warmer, wetter climate would impair California grasslands

17-year experiment finds present climate near optimal for plant growth

Date:

September 6, 2016

Source:

Rice University

Summary:

Scientists said data from one of the world’s longest-running climate-change experiments show that California grasslands will become less productive if the temperature or precipitation increases substantially above average conditions from the past 40 years.

Results from one of the longest-running and most extensive experiments to examine how climate change will affect agricultural productivity show that California grasslands will become less productive if the temperature or precipitation increases substantially above average conditions from the past 40 years.

Read the full article: Science Daily

Harvests in the United States are liable to shrink

 

Photo credit: Climate Home

(Pic: Pixabay)

Global warming to shrink US harvests, say scientists

Rising temperatures will lead to massive crop losses in the US, which will increase prices and cause problems for developing countries, says international study

By Alex Kirby

Harvests in the United States are liable to shrink by between a fifth and a half of their present size because of rising temperatures, an international scientific team has found.

They say wheat, maize (known also as corn) and soya are all likely to suffer substantial damage by the end of the century. And while increased irrigation could help to protect them against the growing heat, that will be an option only in regions with enough water.

Their report, published in the journal Nature Communications, says the effects of a warming atmosphere will extend far beyond the US. But as it is one of the largest crop exporters, world market crop prices may increase, causing problems for poor countries.

The lead author of the study is Bernhard Schauberger, from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany. He says: “We know from observations that high temperatures can harm crops, but now we have a much better understanding of the processes.”

Read the full story: Climate Home

Drought and wildfires are connected

 

Photo credit: Science Daily

Numerous fires create a smoky pall over the skies of western Africa. The image above was acquired on Dec. 10, 2015.

Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using VIIRS data from Suomi NPP

 

NASA study finds a connection between wildfires, drought

Date:

January 10, 2017

Source:

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Summary:

For centuries drought has come and gone across northern sub-Saharan Africa. In recent years, water shortages have been most severe in the Sahel — a band of semi-arid land situated just south of the Sahara Desert and stretching coast-to-coast across the continent, from Senegal and Mauritania in the west to Sudan and Eritrea in the east.

 

Various factors influence these African droughts, both natural and human-caused. A periodic temperature shift in the Atlantic Ocean, known as the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation, plays a role, as does overgrazing, which reduces vegetative cover, and therefore the ability of the soil to retain moisture. By replacing vegetative cover’s moist soil, which contributes water vapor to the atmosphere to help generate rainfall, with bare, shiny desert soil that merely reflects sunlight directly back into space, the capacity for rainfall is diminished.

Another human-caused culprit is biomass burning, as herders burn land to stimulate grass growth, and farmers burn the landscape to convert terrain into farming land and to get rid of unwanted biomass after the harvest season. As with overgrazing, fires dry out the soil and stymie the convection that brings rainfall. Small particles called aerosols that are released into the air by smoke may also reduce the likelihood of rainfall. This can happen because water vapor in the atmosphere condenses on certain types and sizes of aerosols called cloud condensation nuclei to form clouds; when enough water vapor accumulates, rain droplets are formed. But have too many aerosols and the water vapor is spread out more diffusely to the point where rain droplets don’t materialize.

Read the full article: Science Daily

 

Trees worldwide develop thicker bark when they live in fire-prone areas

Tree-bark thickness indicates fire-resistance in a hotter future

Date:

January 11, 2017

Source:

Princeton University

Summary:

A new study has found that trees worldwide develop thicker bark when they live in fire-prone areas. The findings suggest that bark thickness could help predict which forests and savannas will survive a warmer climate in which wildfires are expected to increase in frequency.

A Princeton University-led study has found that trees in fire-prone areas around the world develop thicker bark. For instance, the tree Connarus suberosus grows in the Brazilian Cerrado — which can burn every three to seven years and contains some of the thickest barked species in the world — has a stem diameter that is 30 percent bark. The findings suggest that bark thickness could help predict which forests and savannas will survive a warmer climate in which wildfires are expected to increase in frequency. Credit: Adam Pellegrini, Stanford UniversityClose – https://images.sciencedaily.com/2017/01/170111091429_1_900x600.jpg

Trees in regions where fire is common, such as savannas and the forests of western North America, tend to have thicker bark, while trees in tropical rainforests have thinner bark, researchers at Princeton University and collaborating institutions reported Jan. 9 in the journal Ecology Letters. Bark protects the inside of the trunk from overheating and is one of a handful of adaptations that trees use to survive fire.

“We found large-scale evidence that bark thickness is a fire-tolerance trait, and we showed this is the case not just in a particular biome such as a savanna, but across different types of forests, across regions and across continents,” said first author Adam Pellegrini, a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University who led the study while a graduate student in Princeton’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Read the full article: Science Daily

Marine Microalgae, a top candidate to combat global warming, energy and food insecurity.

Photo credit: AZO Cleantech: Image credit: moonoi172 / Shutterstock.com

We may have stumbled onto the next green revolution.

Charles H. Greene, professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Cornell University

Marine Microalgae may Help Create Green Fuel, Combat Global Warming and Food Insecurity

According to a study published in the journal Oceanography (December 2016), microalgae, which are taken from the bottom of the marine food chain, may soon become a top candidate to combat global warming, energy and food insecurity.

The new study provides an overview of the idea of large-scale industrial cultivation of marine microalgae (ICMM).

ICMM could minimize the use of fossil fuel by providing liquid hydrocarbon biofuels for cargo shipping and aviation industries. Lipids are extracted from microalgae biomass for producing biofuels and the remaining microalgae biomass can then be converted into nutritious animal feeds or maybe consumed by humans.

In order to produce biofuel, researchers harvest freshly grown microalgae, extract most of the water, and then remove the lipids for the fuel. The residual defatted biomass is highly nutritious and protein-rich byproduct, which can be added to feeds for domesticated animals, such as pigs and chickens, or aquacultured animals, such as shrimp and salmon.

Growing sufficient algae to meet the current global demand for liquid fuel would require an area of approximately 800,000 square miles, or a little less than three times the size of Texas. Simultaneously, 2.4 billion tons of protein co-product would be produced, which corresponds to nearly 10 times the global annual production of soy protein.

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Read the full story: AZO Cleantech

Even with 2 degrees of global warming, desertification would overtake parts of the Mediterranean

 

Photo credit: Inside Climate News

People rush to the beach during heat waves in the Mediterranean region, which will get more extreme as the globe warms. Credit: Getty Images

 

Rapidly Warming Mediterranean Headed for Desertification, Study Warns

BY SABRINA SHANKMAN

Even with 2 degrees of global warming, the current global goal, desertification would overtake parts of this lush and vibrant region.

If the Earth warms much more than it already has, the climate and ecosystems of the Mediterranean region might suddenly become unrecognizable, according to a new study.

The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, found that even if warming is constrained to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial times—which is the central goal of the Paris climate agreement—the Mediterranean region would see changes never experienced during recorded history.

With 2 degrees of warming, Morocco, for instance, would see increased temperatures and drought that would drive the southern deserts further north, displacing forests. Deserts would expand in the Middle East, too, pushing temperate forests higher into the mountains.

If warming continues unabated, the results would be significantly worse. The study found that all of southern Spain would become desert and most of the deciduous forests in the region would be replaced by shrubs and bushes.

These changes are already close at hand.

Read the full article: Inside Climate News

Mediterranean Headed for Desertification

 

 

“Rapidly Warming Mediterranean Headed for Desertification, Study Warns”

Sabrina Shankman reports for InsideClimate News October 27, 2016.

“Even with 2 degrees of global warming, the current global goal, desertification would overtake parts of this lush and vibrant region.”

“If the Earth warms much more than it already has, the climate and ecosystems of the Mediterranean region might suddenly become unrecognizable, according to a new study.

The study, published Thursday in the journal Science, found that even if warming is constrained to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial times—which is the central goal of the Paris climate agreement—the Mediterranean region would see changes never experienced during recorded history.

Read the full article: Society of Environmental Journalists

HOW TO HELP SORGHUM AND MILLET FARMERS INCREASE THEIR YIELDS

 

 

NEW INITIATIVE TO HELP SORGHUM AND MILLET FARMERS INCREASE THEIR YIELDS IN SPITE OF HIGH TEMPERATURES AND LOW RAINFALL

A dryland cereals improvement project ‘HOPE Phase 2’ aimed at improving productivity of sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet will be launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the Harmony Hotel on May 11, 2016. The initiative, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aims at helping farmers in six sub-Saharan Africa countries – Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Uganda, cope with the effects of drought, and reduce poverty, hunger and malnutrition.

Given the severity of intermittent drought in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and especially in eastern and southern Africa the past three years, this project will work towards promoting sorghum and millets, which are the most inherently drought tolerant of all major staples. They are also highly valued as nutritious food due to their high levels of vitamins, protein and micronutrients that provide multiple health benefits. Finger millet, for example, has exceptionally high levels of calcium (10-40 times more than other cereals) and relatively lower energy content, making it ideal for weaning children, and for pregnant and nursing mothers. It also has a low glycemic index and so good for those suffering from diabetes.

“These crops are drought tolerant and give a good yield even with very little rain when other cereals fail. They are also nutritionally superior compared to other crops which mean that even the affected communities during drought can still get excellent nutrition that is available with the reduced harvests,” said Dr. Moses Siambi, Regional Director, ICRISAT, the lead implementing center.

Read the full article: ICRISAT

Success stories about food crops and drought-resistant plants

 

 

 

2016-04 SUCCESS STORIES: FOOD CROPS AND DROUGHT-RESISTANT SPECIES TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION AND POVERTY

by Prof. Dr. Willem Van Cotthem (Ghent University, Belgium)

Please read this article at:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pa78SSwsJwsGaAGKkQC0tzthCJZSmiWFdJXx3Z8ZOeU/edit?usp=sharing