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Desert 'carbon Farming' To Curb CO2

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Desert 'carbon farming' to curb CO2

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1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment reporter, BBC News

Scientists say that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations could be an effective method of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed "carbon farming", researchers state the idea is financially competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage projects.

But critics state the concept might be have unanticipated, negative effects consisting of driving up food rates.

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

Seeds of change

Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from Central America and is extremely well adapted to harsh conditions consisting of incredibly arid deserts.

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

In this research study, German researchers revealed that one hectare of jatropha might catch as much as 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The researchers based their quotes on trees currently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the .

"The outcomes are frustrating," said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

"There was great growth, an excellent reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much bigger scale, for example ten thousand hectares in the beginning," he said.

According to the scientists a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would absorb all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks in Germany over a 20 year duration.

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

They are wishing to develop bigger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that just offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be an excellent, short-term service to environment modification.

"I think it is a good concept due to the fact that we are actually drawing out carbon dioxide from the environment - and it is completely various between drawing out and preventing."

According to the researcher's computations the expenses of curbing carbon dioxide via 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 number of countries are currently trialling this innovation, external however it has yet to be deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not just soaks up CO2 however has other benefits. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be gathered for biofuel state the scientists, supplying a financial return.

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

But other professionals in this location are not convinced. They point to the truth that in 2007 and 2008 large numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially in Africa. But many of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not extremely effective in dealing with dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was as soon as seen as the excellent, green hope the truth was really various.

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

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

She pointed out that jatropha is extremely hazardous and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she also had issues about the fairness of the idea.

"It is still someone else's land. Why go in and grow these huge plantations to handle an issue these people didn't actually cause?"

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.