国产精品99一区二区三_免费中文日韩_国产在线精品一区二区_日本成人手机在线

China, India contribute most to global greenery expansion: NASA data

Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-13 02:49:05|Editor: yan
Video PlayerClose

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Data from NASA satellites have shown that China and India led the way in greening on land, thanks to ambitious tree-planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries.

The study published in the latest edition in Nature Sustainability on Monday showed that at least 25 percent of the foliage expansion since the early 2000s globally came in China.

The researchers from Boston University found that global green leaf area has increased by 5 percent in the new century, an area equivalent to all of the Amazon rainforest.

"China and India account for one-third of the greening, but contain only nine percent of the planet's land area covered in vegetation," said lead author Chen Chi of Boston University.

"That is a surprising finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from over-exploitation," said Chen.

Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and a co-author of the study said: "When the greening of the Earth was first observed, we thought it was due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilization from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."

But with data from NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites, scientists realized that humans are also contributing.

"Humans are incredibly resilient. That's what we see in the satellite data," said Nemani.

China's contribution to the global greening trend comes in large part from its programs to conserve and expand forests, accounting for about 42 percent of the greening contribution, according to the study.

Another 32 percent of the greening change in China, and 82 percent in India, resulted from intensive cultivation of food crops, since the farmland in China and India has not changed much since the early 2000s, while both increased their food production to feed large populations.

However, the researchers rang bells as well. They said that the gain in global greenness did not necessarily offset the loss of natural vegetation in tropical regions like Brazil and Indonesia.

The loss of sustainability and biodiversity in those ecosystems cannot be offset by the simple greenness of the landscape, according to the study.

TOP STORIES
EDITOR’S CHOICE
MOST VIEWED
EXPLORE XINHUANET
010020070750000000000000011105521378164951
主站蜘蛛池模板: 铜梁县| 无棣县| 浪卡子县| 陇西县| 沭阳县| 拉萨市| 乌兰察布市| 册亨县| 共和县| 东乡| 庄浪县| 南木林县| 宜昌市| 龙口市| 邮箱| 波密县| 汾西县| 广平县| 德昌县| 莒南县| 香港| 固原市| 孝义市| 汨罗市| 灵寿县| 盐津县| 白山市| 许昌县| 苗栗市| 乾安县| 辽源市| 天祝| 宁蒗| 左权县| 西丰县| 曲阳县| 威信县| 磐安县| 丹阳市| 军事| 桂东县|