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Large-scale tree-planting projects have taken place in regions of China prone to soil erosion. Satellite imagery reveals the effects of this work, and shows that a predicted vegetation decline didn’t occur during a period of drought.
The effects of human activities on Earth’s vegetation have tended to be negative, mostly because of deforestation1. Restoration efforts are often restricted to small, localized scales. Large ecological-engineering projects aimed at producing regional-scale effects are few, and among these, China’s mega-projects — most notably, the Grain for Green Project (GGP)2 — stand out because of their unparalleled scale (27.8 million hectares of forest re-established as of 2013 across 26 Chinese provinces3). Writing in Nature Sustainability, Tong et al.4 report that the positive effects of these tree-planting projects on vegetation growth can be detected using remote-sensing satellite imagery of a large region of southwestern China (the provinces of Guizhou, Guangxi and Yunnan), in an area associated with highly erodible landscapes called karst. The authors note that these projects, which require considerable investment, will be justified only if the modification of ecosystem properties can be achieved on a large scale.
Delang, C. O. & Yuan, Z. China’s Grain for Green Program: A Review of the Largest Ecological Restoration and Rural Development Program in the World (Springer, 2015).