Full article:
http://tx1.fcomet.com/~claverto/cms/download/138/
Only about 1/7th of China’s vast area is suitable for agriculture due to desertification occasioned by overgrazing. This has been going on for thousands of years, and was the reason for the Mongol hordes invading Europe (they got as far as the gates of Vienna, and right up to Poland)
Desertification is a huge and tabooed subject in China, and sand dunes are threatening to engulf Peking at some point not too far away.
As desertification continues, and more arable land is destroyed, and China’s demand for food grows, this leads to deforestation being exported to eg the Amazon to grow the soya beans to feed cattle for the Chinese.
This article describes a novel concept using existing technology to very quickly a) control the desertification and sand drifts b) enable the establishment of plant species and associated carbon sequestration in improved soils c) the construction of wind farms or CSP connected to Europe by either a lengthy HVDC transmission system, or the local production of ammonia which can readily be transported to eg Europe / USA and easily used as a vehicle fuel d) the construction of a vast area of seawater greenhouses using sea water pumped thousands of miles to be desalinated by solar energy to allow the production of food and or energy crops. (Contrary to what some ill-informed people claim this does not use a huge amount of energy compared to other national uses)
The concept described is ADRECS – Aerially Delivered Re-Afforestation And Erosion Control System which can be applied in any desert area but in particular to the Gobi and other deserts in China which have extremely serious potential effects on world food.
The ADRECS proposal claims to address this issue and the rough calculations show that using standard freight aeroplanes and heavy lift helicopters, the installation could be achieved in a matter of a decade.
See Also:
http://tx1.fcomet.com/~claverto/cms/desert-rose-fresh-water-forest-cover.html
Well done, just what the world needs now. How can it be started?
To discuss the pros and cons of the proposed activity in not my purpose here. I have discussions going with Univiersity of Michigan Professor D. Brown who has a project going now in the Inner Mongolia area. I am also interested in growing Biomass for several reasons to include uplifting the poor as in an Inclusive Business Partnering, but also government participation both the national and regional/local is appropriate. Although, exports to the EU is interesting, my project in Africa is perhaps a better fit. The
demand in China for fuels and Renewable Energy is a large market
already.