China leads global greening efforts

Study shows its ambitious efforts have increased world’s leafy coverage

BEIJING: There has been an increase in leafy coverage equivalent to that of the entire Amazon rainforest between 2000 and 2017, especially in China and India, according to a new study.

The planet’s two most populous nations are leading the increase in greenery, in large part due to China’s ambitious programmes in tree planting and more efficient agriculture practices, said a study by Nasa published on Monday in the journal Nature Sustainability.

The study revealed that one third of the planet’s vegetated land area is greening, while just 5% is brown- ing. This translates to a net increase in leafy areas of 2.3% per decade, or 5.4 million sq km of new leafy coverage from 2000 to 2017.

China alone accounts for a quar- ter of the global net increase despite having only 6.6% of the world’s vegetated area.

About 42% of the greening in China comes from forest conservation and tree planting campaigns as the country makes efforts to address soil erosion, air pollution and climate change.

Agricultural lands contributed a further 32%, it said.

India comes in second with a contribution of 6.8% of the global rise, added the study, which is based on high-resolution data records from Nasa instruments orbiting the Earth on two satellites.

China and India account for onethird of the greening, but contain only 9% of the planet’s vegetated area – a surprising finding considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from overexploitation, Chi Chen, a researcher at Boston University and lead author of the study, said in a Nasa statement.

The study is endorsed by China’s official data of forest coverage growth.

The country’s forest coverage rate increased from 12.5% in the early 1950s to 21.7% in 2017, and its top forestry authority has vowed to fur- ther promote the rate to 26% by 2035.

Last year, China planted trees across about 7.1 million ha of land.

The country has garnered acclaim after Nasa posted the study on its official Twitter account on Tuesday.

China and India have achieved significant increases in food production thanks to multiple cropping practices, where a field is replanted to produce another harvest several times a year and which also contributes to an increase of leafy area coverage, Nasa said.