Despite what it may seem, the blue planet is becoming greener , according to an international study based on data collected by satellites over twenty years.
First, vegetation cover has increased naturally in Australia, Africa and South America as a result of increased rainfall.
Forests have also reconquered territory in Russia and the former Soviet republics, this time due to the abandonment of farmland. And finally, China has become green thanks to a planned reforestation policy .
On the other side of the scale are vegetation losses in the Amazon and the Indonesian provinces of Sumatra and Kalimantan , although they are offset by gains in the rest of the world.
The new report, published in Nature Climate Change , is based on the analysis of radio waves emitted naturally by the Earth, which allow deducing the changes in biomass . Before, the increase or decrease of the territory occupied by the forest cover was valued.
Apart from the increase in rainfall, another reason that explains the surprising rise of the African savannas, the Australian bush or the South American forests is, paradoxically, the increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere, which allows plants to lose less water .
However, Pep Canadell, director of the Global Carbon Project and co-author of the study, warns: “We know that 50% of the emissions generated by human activities remain in the atmosphere, although the other half is trapped by terrestrial vegetation and the oceans. The only way to stabilize the climate is to reduce global emissions from fossil fuels to zero . “
