3 ms·
On your last point: This process can be sped up via intelligent afforestation (Miyawaki, permaculture etc). Heavy mulching combined with densely planted nativ
by fredrikholm 5y ago
On your last point:
This process can be sped up via intelligent afforestation (Miyawaki, permaculture etc).
Heavy mulching combined with densely planted native plants of different heights (everything from understory to canopy layer) effectively traps enough moisture and introduces a wide enough variety of microbes to sufficiently kick start a positive spiral mimicking virgin forests.
This requires manual input of water and mulching for the first two years or so. After that point you have a self sufficient, dense forest that rivals natural ones.
Combined with water harvesting (swales, check dams, man made ponds) this has been proven very effective in dry parts India, China, Northern Africa and Australia.
- Darmody 5y agoI didn't know that. I'll look more into it, thanks.
- fredrikholm 5y agoA great start is the Paani foundation; they move thousands of villages from water tank dependency to self-sufficiency in their annual competition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8nqnOcoLqE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8nqnOcoLqE
- Darmody 5y agoThat's pretty cool. Now I wonder. With an efficient water desalinization how long would it take us to turn arid zones into complete oasis? That would be massively helpful against global warming.
- greenie_beans 5y agoJust learned about Mikyawaki. This is why I look at the comments. Thanks.