Desert 'carbon farming' to curb CO2

1 August 2013

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By Matt McGrath

Environment correspondent, BBC News

Scientists state that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert locations could be an effective way of suppressing emissions of CO2.

Dubbed "carbon farming", scientists say the idea is economically competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage tasks.

But critics state the idea could be have unpredicted, negative impacts consisting of increasing food prices.

The research study has been released, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.

Seeds of modification

Jatropha curcas is a plant that originated in Central America and is extremely well adapted to extreme conditions including incredibly dry deserts.

It is currently grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world because its seeds can produce oil.

In this research study, German scientists revealed that a person hectare of jatropha could record approximately 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the every year. The scientists based their quotes on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.

"The outcomes are frustrating," said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.

"There was good development, a great action from these plants. I feel there will be no problem attempting it on a much bigger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the start," he stated.

According to the scientists a plantation that would cover three percent of the Arabian desert would soak up all the CO2 produced by cars and trucks in Germany over a 20 year period.

The scientists say that a crucial element of the strategy would be the schedule of desalination centers. This implies that initially, any plantations would be confined to coastal areas.

They are wanting to develop bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other schemes that simply balance out the carbon that people produce, the planting of jatropha could be an excellent, short-term option to climate change.

"I think it is a great idea since we are truly extracting co2 from the atmosphere - and it is totally various between drawing out and avoiding."

According to the researcher's estimations the costs of curbing co2 via the planting of trees would be between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other strategies, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).

A variety of countries are currently trialling this innovation, external but it has yet to be deployed commercially.

Growing jatropha not just absorbs CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert areas more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be gathered for biofuel say the scientists, providing a financial return.

"Jatropha is perfect to be developed into biokerosene - it is even much better than biodiesel," said Prof Becker.

But other specialists in this area are not persuaded. They point to the reality that in 2007 and 2008 great deals of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, especially in Africa. But many of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not very effective in handling dry conditions.

Lucy Hurn is the biofuels project manager for the charity, Actionaid. She states that while jatropha was when seen as the terrific, green hope the reality was very different.

"When jatropha was introduced it was seen as a miracle crop, it would grow on scrubland or marginal land," she stated.

"But there are frequently people who require minimal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that location - we would not class the land as limited."

She explained that jatropha is extremely harmful and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had concerns about the fairness of the concept.

"It is still somebody else's land. Why enter and grow these enormous plantations to handle a problem these individuals didn't in fact cause?"

Follow Matt on Twitter, external.

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Related web links

Universität Hohenheim

European Geosciences Union

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