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India China leading Global Greening Efforts, says study
Why in news?
- A study based on NASA satellite data has said India and China are leading the global greening effort.
- Observing that the world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago.
More in the news
Surprising Findings:
- China and India account for one-third of the greening but contain only 9% of the planet’s land area covered in vegetation.
- That is a surprising finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from over exploitation.
study published on Journal Nature Sustainability said that satellite data (2000 – 2017) revealed:
- China alone accounts for 25% of the global net increase in leaf area with only 6.6% of global vegetated area.
- The greening in China is from forests (42%) and croplands (32%).
- But in India it is mostly from croplands (82%) with minor contribution from forests (4.4%).
Improvements in crop production:
- Food production in China and India has increased by over 35% since 2000.
- Mostly due to an increase in harvested area through multiple cropping facilitated by fertilizer use and surface or groundwater irrigation.
Many factors for greening effect:
- When the greening of the earth was first observed, it was believed due to a warmer, wetter climate and fertilization from the added carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
- But 20 years long data record from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites helps to find out that humans are also contributing.
Source
The Hindu.