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Desert ‘carbon Farming’ To Curb CO2

Desert ‘carbon farming’ to suppress CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment correspondent, BBC News

Scientists state that planting big numbers of jatropha trees in desert locations might be an effective way of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed «carbon farming», researchers say the concept is economically competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage tasks.

But critics state the idea might be have unanticipated, negative impacts consisting of increasing food prices.

The research study has been released, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that stemmed in Central America and is effectively adapted to extreme conditions consisting of extremely dry deserts.

It is currently grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world because its seeds can produce oil.

In this study, German researchers showed that one hectare of jatropha could record approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The scientists based their estimates on trees currently 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 growth, a great reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much larger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the beginning,» he stated.

According to the scientists a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would take in all the CO2 produced by automobiles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years period.

The scientists state that a crucial component of the strategy would be the of desalination facilities. This indicates that at first, any plantations would be confined to coastal areas.

They are intending to develop larger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that simply balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be a great, short term solution to climate modification.

«I believe it is a great concept due to the fact that we are truly drawing out carbon dioxide from the environment – and it is totally different between extracting and preventing.»

According to the scientist’s estimations the costs of suppressing carbon dioxide through the planting of trees would be between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other methods, 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 deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not only takes in CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant’s seeds can be gathered for biofuel say the researchers, providing a financial return.

«Jatropha is perfect to be turned into biokerosene – it is even much better than biodiesel,» said Prof Becker.

But other specialists in this area are not convinced. They point to the fact that in 2007 and 2008 big numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But a lot of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very successful in coping with dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign manager for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was as soon as viewed as the fantastic, green hope the reality was very different.

«When jatropha was introduced it was viewed as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or limited land,» she said.

«But there are often individuals who need marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area – we would not class the land as marginal.»

She pointed out that jatropha is highly poisonous and can contaminate the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had issues about the fairness of the concept.

«It is still someone else’s land. Why enter and grow these massive plantations to handle an issue these individuals didn’t actually trigger?»

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

The BBC is not accountable for the material of external sites.

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