China sowing forests in tree-starved areas

BEIJING, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- China's "Green Great Wall" forest project could become a model that could help mitigate environmental disasters, researchers say.

The project, relying on a method called afforestation that changes land lacking dense tree cover into a forest, could lead to more precipitation and lower temperatures in the area, researchers wrote in an article published in Journal of the American Water Resources Association.

The Green Great Wall is a forest project in northern China that runs nearly parallel to the Great Wall and likely will improve climatic and hydrological conditions in the area once it's completed, the researchers said.

"Many regions in the world are facing climate-related environmental disasters such as persistent drought, dust storms and water shortage," lead author Yongqiang Liu said. "Furthermore, it is very likely that disasters will become more severe in the future due to projected climate change in response to greenhouse effects."

Since forests can regulate regional climate, the team said afforestation may be a useful approach to mitigate effects of environmental disasters and climate change.

Researchers said they used a climate model to simulate the potential of improving regional hydroclimate conditions, which also showed precipitation and temperature changes and improved relative humidity.