<
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/green-gains-localized-efforts-leave-a-mark-notably-in-drier-areas-study-shows/>
"Efforts to green the planet are in full swing, promising everything from
mitigating climate change to stalling land degradation. But how well do these
actually work?
Often, they sprout up as small-scale tree-planting or agroforestry schemes in
far-flung areas. Pinpointing gains isn’t always easy. Visiting each site and
verifying vegetal growth over time is a nonstarter, so researchers usually rely
on satellites to monitor changes.
In a recent analysis, scientists from Wageningen University & Research in the
Netherlands showed how monitoring of localized efforts can be improved. Across
Africa, spurts of green accounted for more than 400,000 square kilometers
(154,000 square miles) of greening, an area the size of Zimbabwe. But how much
of that was driven by humans?
According to the researchers, the key is to distinguish the impacts of human
efforts from trends that arise from broader climatic shifts. Historical climate
records suggest that Africa oscillates between prolonged periods of greening
and browning.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the continent experienced widespread droughts, one of
the reasons for desertification along the Sahel belt that borders the Sahara
Desert. It was initially thought to result from human activities, but recent
climatological analysis linked the shift to El Niño, an unusual warming of the
tropical Pacific Ocean, and other variations in sea surface temperatures. But
during the past few decades, Africa has seen a trend of increasing vegetative
cover."
Via
Future Crunch:
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-clean-energy-aids-big-cats-africa/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
