Huge "regreening" efforts in China over the past few decades have activated the country's water cycle and moved water in ways that scientists are just now starting to understand.

China’s biggest tree-planting effort is the Great Green Wall in the country’s arid and semi-arid north. Started in 1978, the Great Green Wall was created to slow the expansion of deserts. Over the last five decades, it has helped grow forest cover from about 10% of China’s area in 1949 to more than 25%

Collectively, China’s ecosystem restoration initiatives account for 25% of the global net increase in leaf area between 2000 and 2017.

    • SlippiHUD@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      6 hours ago

      I’m not sure that’s really the take away. Its just that greening an area doesn’t always result in local benefits. But that evaporation will eventually come down somewhere. Upwards of 4,000 miles away.

      If we all rebuilt historical forests we would all benefit.

      It’s like if you’re a sewage treatment plant, the better job you do, the more you help people down stream, but it still doesn’t do anything about upstream problems.

    • theolodis@feddit.orgEnglish
      71·
      7 hours ago

      Did you read the article? They planted the trees to prevent soil erosion, which worked seemingly well, and overall China has more water now, just unevenly distributed.

      Nothing they couldn’t fix, and a great example of what can be achieved if a country makes a plan and goes through with it.