Scientists from the Institute of Applied Ecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences evaluated the impact of the Three North Afforestation Program (TNAP), also known as China’s “Great Green Wall”, the world’s largest ecological restoration project. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine “Ecological Process”.
The TNAP project started in 1978. It involves planting trees and shrubs in arid regions in the north, northeast and northwest of China.
Using remote sensing, field observations, and national forest inventory data, the researchers estimated increases in biomass, soil, and carbon stocks in the carbon ecology, i.e., reductions in carbon dioxide emissions from restoring natural areas.
Scientists found that the total forest area in TNAP regions increased from 221 thousand square kilometers in 1978 to 379 thousand square kilometers in 2017. The program has contributed to sequestering a total of more than 47 million tonnes of carbon annually over 39 years. Additionally, the amount of carbon in aboveground and underground biomass increased from 0.84 billion tons in 1978 to 2.08 billion tons in 2017.
Experts noted that TNAP forests absorbed about 5% of the country’s industrial emissions throughout their existence.
Ecologists before I suspected Effectiveness of planting trees to offset carbon emissions.