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Concept
Desert greening
Summary
Desert greening is the artificial process of afforestation or revegetation of deserts for ecological restoration (biodiversity), sustainable farming and forestry, but also for reclamation of natural water systems and other ecological systems that support life. The term "desert greening" is intended to apply to both cold and hot arid and semi-arid deserts (see Köppen climate classification system). It does not apply to ice capped or permafrost regions. Desert greening has the potential to help solve global water, energy, and food crises. It pertains to roughly 32 million square kilometres of land.
Planting trees (pioneer species) and salt-loving plants (halophytes), such as Salicornia
Planting trees augmented by dew and rain harvesting technologies like the Groasis Waterboxx
Regeneration of salty, polluted, or degenerated soils
Ecoscaping; landscaping methods which reduce evaporation, erosion, consolidation of topsoil, sandstorms, and high temperatures
Floodwater retention and infiltration (flood control)
Desert farming based on fossil groundwater, although not being sustainable
Farmer-managed natural regeneration
Greenhouse agriculture
Holistic management
Inland mariculture
Managed intensive rotational grazing
Permaculture in general – harvesting runoff rainwater to grow plant communities polyculture, composting or multitrophic agriculture
Prevention of overgrazing
Regenerative agriculture
Seawater greenhouses and farming, for example, Seawater Foundation or the IBTS Greenhouse
Prevention of firewood or charcoal use, respectively providing electricity for cooking
Desert greening is substantially a function of water availability. If sufficient water for irrigation is at hand, any hot, cold, sandy or rocky desert can be greened. Water can be made available through saving, reuse, rainwater harvesting, desalination, or direct use of seawater for salt-loving plants. These different paths have unique features, i.e.: conserving water is a cheap solution.
Official source
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