Desert 'carbon Farming' To Curb CO2

Desert 'carbon farming' to curb CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment reporter, BBC News

Scientists state that planting large numbers of jatropha trees in desert areas might be an effective method of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed "carbon farming", scientists say the concept is economically competitive with modern carbon capture and storage jobs.

But critics say the concept might be have unexpected, unfavorable effects consisting of increasing food costs.

The research has actually been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is extremely well adapted to severe conditions including very dry 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 revealed that a person hectare of jatropha might catch up to 25 tonnes of co2 from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their quotes on trees currently 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 development, an excellent reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no problem attempting it on a much larger scale, for example ten thousand hectares in the start," he said.

According to the researchers 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 20 year duration.

The scientists say that a vital aspect of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination centers. This indicates that at first, any plantations would be restricted to coastal areas.

They are hoping to develop larger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other plans that simply offset the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be a great, short term solution to climate change.

"I believe it is a great idea because we are truly extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - and it is completely various in between drawing out and avoiding."

According to the researcher's calculations the costs of suppressing carbon dioxide by means of the planting of trees would be in 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 innovation, external however 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 harvested for biofuel state the researchers, offering an economic return.

"Jatropha is ideal to be turned into biokerosene - it is even better than biodiesel," said Prof Becker.

But other professionals in this area are not convinced. They point to the reality that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But numerous of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not extremely effective in coping with dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was once viewed as the excellent, green hope the truth was extremely various.

"When jatropha was presented it was seen as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or minimal land," she said.

"But there are typically people who require minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area - we would not class the land as marginal."

She explained that jatropha is extremely hazardous and can contaminate 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 enter and grow these huge plantations to deal with an issue these people didn't in fact cause?"

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