China reassigns 60,000 soldiers to plant trees in bid to fight pollution

[Baronage-Phase]

China deploys 60,000 soldiers to plant trees in bid to grow 6 million hectares of new forest this year

Area to be planted by the end of the year is roughly the size of Ireland



The plan to plant at least 84,000 square kilometres (32,400 square miles) of trees by the end of the year, which is roughly equivalent to the size of Ireland.
The aim is to increase the country's forest coverage from 21 per cent of its total landmass to 23 per cent by 2020, the China Daily newspaper reported.

 

[ska invita]

meanwhile in the uk

Reality Check: Are millions of trees being planted?
Campaigners have called on the government to do more to address the "unacceptably low" level of woodland cover in the United Kingdom, arguing it is causing the country both economic and environmental damage.

Only 13% of the UK's total land area is covered in trees, compared with an average elsewhere in the EU of about 35%. In England, the figure is just 10%, and efforts to plant more trees have been falling short.

 

[Pickman's model]

it'd be better if they stopped chopping down all siberia's trees

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

And let's not forget, the UK government harps on that we have cut our carbon emissions by so many percent over the past so many years, this is cos the stuff we buy is now made in China, so we've outsourced our emissions over there.

As XR point out, we need a global solution.

 

[pinkmonkey]

A few of you know I'm in the shoe trade - They're forcing any tannery that doesn't have waste water treatment machinery to close. China, environment and tanneries. CLIA announce “Due to further inspections, 70 companies out of 103 to close”, in Wuji and Xinji districts | LaConceria | Il portale dell'area pelle

 

[JimW]

it'd be better if they stopped chopping down all siberia's trees

Yep, and countries all over SE Asia

 

[JimW]

Not sure if it's changed recently, but back when I helped on a forestry project here turned out China's standard for the density of cover that counted as forest is pretty low by comparison.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

To much mono culture as well apparently

https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/study-finds-chinas-new-forests-arent-really-forests/

 

[klang]

To much mono culture as well apparently

https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/study-finds-chinas-new-forests-arent-really-forests/

I assume that Germany's 33% are mostly found in the south....if so then it wouldn't be the most diverse woodland. Most forests are man-made pine forests. They grow quickly and straight.

 

[Poi E]

There was rather a lot of open ground a while back so they had to cover it quickly.

 

[JimW]

To much mono culture as well apparently

https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/study-finds-chinas-new-forests-arent-really-forests/

That 'Grain for Green' programme was what the projects we did came under, though we tried to do smaller scale projects that offered non-timber by-products like chestnuts etc. Can well believe the monoculture thing, they'd tend to offer one or other type of sapling subsidised, and very true about the perverse incentives.

 

[JimW]

There was rather a lot of open ground a while back so they had to cover it quickly.

Yes, we had a lot of air-seeded uplands where the forest was of noticeably lower quality. They land had often only been closed to cultivation by fiat for a few years.

 

[spring-peeper]

hmmm

our new provincial government has decided to cancel the tree planting.

Nurseries have all the trees ready and students were looking forward to tree planting jobs.

Ford axes tree planting program

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

meanwhile in the uk

Reality Check: Are millions of trees being planted?
Campaigners have called on the government to do more to address the "unacceptably low" level of woodland cover in the United Kingdom, arguing it is causing the country both economic and environmental damage.

Only 13% of the UK's total land area is covered in trees, compared with an average elsewhere in the EU of about 35%. In England, the figure is just 10%, and efforts to plant more trees have been falling short.

Genuine question here, as I'd absolutely love to see a forest planting scheme in the UK, but is there actually any space available for doing this? Isn't most fertile land taken up by farming?

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I think a lot of this is happening on the border of the Gobi. I believe the original purpose of the plan was to stop land converting to desert. It has, over time morphed into a pollution control and global climate change plan. In any case, I'm glad that they at least have come to an understanding of the problem and have some sort of plan.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Genuine question here, as I'd absolutely love to see a forest planting scheme in the UK, but is there actually any space available for doing this? Isn't most fertile land taken up by farming?

40% of the Surrey Hills is already covered in trees, 23% of the county as a whole. And that's right on London's doorstep, so probably room for more elsewhere...

 

[Artaxerxes]

Genuine question here, as I'd absolutely love to see a forest planting scheme in the UK, but is there actually any space available for doing this? Isn't most fertile land taken up by farming?

The entire Lake District, huge swathes of Scotland...

 

[JimW]

I think a lot of this is happening on the border of the Gobi. I believe the original purpose of the plan was to stop the creep of land converting to desert. It has, over time morphed into pollution control and global climate change plans. In any case, I'm glad that they at least have come to an understanding of the problem and have a plan.

Yes, plus also as shelter belt to stop the spring sandstorms that used to be much more severe over a lot of the north. Though much of the anti-desertification uses shrubs rather than trees.

 

[ska invita]

The entire Lake District, huge swathes of Scotland...

Nibbling sheep and deer stop trees growing in many hillside/nonarable locations... Doesn't have to be that way. Will be interesting to see what happens to sheep farmers post brexit. Much as I sympathise with their lot, and appreciate the tradition, I'd like to see a big reduction of sheep farming (and eating) in the UK.

Heres some Scottish before and after reforesting pictures

 

[Brainaddict]

Interesting pics, thanks

Oliver Rackham, supreme expert on UK woodlands, was not much in favour of planting woodlands at all.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Interesting pics, thanks

Oliver Rackham, supreme expert on UK woodlands, was not much in favour of planting woodlands at all.

There were a lot of silly mistakes in the 50s and 60s I think with woodland plantations put down but planted with fast growing trees in a monoculture (usually non-native pines)

These effectively made wildlife deserts because nothing grew on the floors and the wildlife couldn't use the trees in any numbers.

 

[Poi E]

Grouse shooting fucks up Scotland's landscape no end. Another way the British ruling class fucks us over. These guys are up to some good Revive – The coalition for grouse moor reform

 

[ska invita]

Grouse shooting fucks up Scotland's landscape no end. Another way the British ruling class fucks us over. These guys are up to some good Revive – The coalition for grouse moor reform

There was an anti-grouse shooting book that came out a year or two back - does anyone know the title? Was meant to be very good and i was looking for that the other day

This is an interesting, short read, with more before and after pictures
Reforestation in Norway: showing what’s possible in Scotland and beyond

 

[Poi E]

Brilliant-thanks

 

[SpookyFrank]

Genuine question here, as I'd absolutely love to see a forest planting scheme in the UK, but is there actually any space available for doing this? Isn't most fertile land taken up by farming?

Lots of moorland is kept intentionally barren for stuff like grouse shooting, an activity that a tiny number of people are involved in but which ultimately causes flooding and fires due to the lack of tree cover.

 

[kebabking]

The grouse shooting thing is over stated, it's a problem, but as a proportion of the land you could use to plant an upland forest its relatively small beer.

If you want to make a big change in terms of carbon sink, biodiversity, and flood prevention you need to plant a mixed forest from the Peak District to Cape Wrath: it would grow in such soil, but it take several generations to produce a forest.

It's easy - imv - to argue that the economics of a 600 mile forest with Moose, Lynx et al would be more productive for the communities who live there than scratching a living from sheep farming eventually, but there might well be a gap of 30+ years between the loss of sheep farming and the point at which tourism and timber takes the economic strain.

Someone will have to pay for that, and it won't be cheap.

 

[likesfish]

There were a lot of silly mistakes in the 50s and 60s I think with woodland plantations put down but planted with fast growing trees in a monoculture (usually non-native pines)

These effectively made wildlife deserts because nothing grew on the floors and the wildlife couldn't use the trees in any numbers.

hate conifer plantations with a vengence all the problems of a jungle in the cold and wet

 

[ska invita]

This is an interesting development...
Plans for huge Northern Forest could see 50 million trees planted

Does anyone know more? It's really badly reported..who is funding and is it actually going to happen?

 

[Pickman's model]

This is an interesting development...
Plans for huge Northern Forest could see 50 million trees planted

Does anyone know more? It's really badly reported..who is funding and is it actually going to happen?

The Northern Forest - Woodland Trust
Northern Forest (England) - Wikipedia

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

This is an interesting development...
Plans for huge Northern Forest could see 50 million trees planted

Does anyone know more? It's really badly reported..who is funding and is it actually going to happen?

I think that's a great idea and planting a lot more trees has all sorts of advantages.

I am skeptical of the idea of it becoming 'a forest' in the sense it's supposed to make you think though. Where I grew up is just about in the zone given there, in north Lincolnshire, and it's all fields. I could see there being small areas where you could plant patches of trees but there's no scope for planting on a forest scale without getting rid of most of the agriculture (and therefore a huge chunk of the local economy) in the area. I imagine most of the area will have similar issues.

That said I think the idea really resonates anyway so hopefully they do well with it.