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Desert ‘carbon farming’ to curb CO2
1 August 2013
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By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, BBC News
Scientists state that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert areas could be a reliable method of suppressing emissions of CO2.
Dubbed «carbon farming», scientists say the concept is financially competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage tasks.
But critics state the idea could be have unanticipated, unfavorable effects including increasing food rates.
The research study has actually been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.
Seeds of modification
Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from in Central America and is effectively adapted to extreme conditions including extremely arid deserts.
It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world since its seeds can produce oil.
In this study, German researchers showed that a person hectare of jatropha might capture as much as 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The scientists based their quotes on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.
«The results are overwhelming,» said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.
«There was great growth, a good reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much bigger scale, for instance ten thousand hectares in the beginning,» 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 over a 20 year period.
The scientists say that a vital component of the plan would be the accessibility of desalination centers. This means that at first, any plantations would be confined to seaside locations.
They are wishing to establish larger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that just balance out the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha might be an excellent, short-term option to climate modification.
«I believe it is a good concept because we are actually drawing out carbon dioxide from the environment – and it is completely different between drawing out and avoiding.»
According to the researcher’s estimations the expenses of curbing co2 via the planting of trees would be in between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other strategies, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).
A variety of countries are presently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be released commercially.
Growing jatropha not just absorbs CO2 however has other advantages. 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 much better than biodiesel,» said Prof Becker.
But other experts in this location are not persuaded. They indicate the truth that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But a number of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very effective in coping with dry conditions.
Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project manager for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was as soon as seen as the terrific, green hope the truth was extremely 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 typically people who need limited land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location – we would not class the land as minimal.»
She explained 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 concept.
«It is still someone else’s land. Why go in and grow these massive plantations to deal with an issue these individuals didn’t actually trigger?»
Follow Matt on Twitter, external.
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Related internet links
Universität Hohenheim
European Geosciences Union
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