Desert 'carbon farming' to suppress CO2
1 August 2013
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By Matt McGrath
Environment reporter, BBC News
Scientists state that planting big numbers of jatropha trees in desert locations might be an effective method of suppressing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed "carbon farming", researchers say the idea is economically competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage jobs.
But critics state the idea could be have unforeseen, negative impacts including driving up food rates.
The research has been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of change
Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is extremely well adapted to extreme conditions consisting of very arid deserts.
It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world due to the fact that its seeds can produce oil.
In this research study, German researchers showed that a person hectare of jatropha might capture approximately 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the environment every year. The scientists based their estimates on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.
"The outcomes are overwhelming," stated Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.
"There was good development, a good reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no issue trying it on a much larger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the start," he stated.
According to the researchers a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would absorb all the CO2 produced by vehicles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years period.
The researchers say that a vital element of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination centers. This means that at first, any plantations would be confined to coastal locations.
They are hoping to establish bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that just offset the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be a good, short-term solution to .
"I believe it is a good concept since we are really drawing out co2 from the environment - and it is entirely different between drawing out and avoiding."
According to the researcher's calculations the costs of curbing co2 by means of the planting of trees would be between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other techniques, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).
A variety of nations are presently trialling this technology, external but it has yet to be released commercially.
Growing jatropha not just soaks up CO2 but has other benefits. The plants would assist to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be gathered for biofuel say the researchers, providing an economic return.
"Jatropha is ideal to be turned into biokerosene - it is even better than biodiesel," stated Prof Becker.
But other experts in this location are not convinced. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially in Africa. But a number of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really successful in managing dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign manager for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was as soon as seen as the fantastic, green hope the reality was very various.
"When jatropha was presented it was viewed as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or minimal land," she stated.
"But there are frequently people who require marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area - we wouldn't class the land as minimal."
She pointed out that jatropha is highly hazardous and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had concerns about the fairness of the idea.
"It is still somebody else's land. Why enter and grow these massive plantations to handle a problem these people didn't in fact trigger?"
Follow Matt on Twitter, external.
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Related internet links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
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Desert 'carbon Farming' To Curb CO2
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