Science is Fun Fridays!

 


China's "Great Green Wall" initiative is an effort to slow land degradation and climate change by planting trees and restoring grasslands.

From 2001 to 2020, "they have actively restored thriving ecosystems, especially in the Loess Plateau.  This has also reactivated the water cycle."

Evaporation removes water from surfaces and soils, while transpiration removes water that plants have absorbed from the soil.  Together, this is called evapotranspiration, and this fluctuates with plant cover, as well as water availability and solar energy.

Increasing evapotranspiration, in turn, increases precipitation.

These changes led to less fresh water in the eastern monsoon region, and increased water availability in the Tibetan Plateau.

China's restoration accounts for 25% of the global net increase in leaf area from 2000-2017.


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