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 say that planting big numbers of jatropha trees in desert locations could be an effective way of curbing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed "carbon farming", researchers state the idea is financially competitive with modern carbon capture and storage tasks.

But critics state the concept could be have unforeseen, unfavorable effects including driving up 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 very well adapted to severe conditions including exceptionally dry 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 scientists showed that a person hectare of jatropha could catch approximately 25 tonnes of co2 from the environment every year. The scientists based their estimates on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

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

"There was excellent development, an excellent reaction from these plants. I feel there will be no problem attempting it on a much bigger scale, for example 10 thousand hectares in the beginning," he said.

According to the researchers 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 twenty years duration.

The researchers say that a crucial element of the strategy would be the accessibility of desalination centers. This means that at first, any plantations would be restricted to coastal locations.

They are intending to establish larger trials in desert areas of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker says that unlike other schemes that just offset the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha might be an excellent, brief term solution to climate modification.

"I think it is a great concept because we are really extracting co2 from the atmosphere - and it is completely various in between drawing out and preventing."

According to the researcher's estimations the expenses of suppressing co2 through 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 number of nations are presently trialling this technology, external however it has yet to be deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not just absorbs CO2 however has other benefits. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be gathered for biofuel state the scientists, offering an economic return.

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

But other specialists in this area are not encouraged. They indicate the reality that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, specifically in Africa. But much of these endeavors ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really effective in coping with dry conditions.

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

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

"But there are often people who need limited land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location - we wouldn't class the land as minimal."

She pointed out that jatropha is extremely toxic and can contaminate 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 enormous plantations to deal with an issue these people didn't actually cause?"

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