More Trees If You Please

More Trees

If You Please

By: Sarah Ekẹnẹzar

The sun is shining brightly outside as usual, but it feels a bit hotter than normal, so you decide to take a step outside. As you glance around, the bright green landscape that you’re accustomed to has disappeared overnight, leaving your eyes with a vision of cracked soil and withered trees. “How on Earth did this happen?” you wonder, before waking up suddenly and realizing it was only a dream. This scenario, albeit hypothetical, is an unfortunate reality for some people in different parts of the world. In recent decades, both temperatures and the human population have increased tremendously, following industrialization booms around the world. As a result, there are more “combined pressures of agricultural and livestock production (over-cultivation, overgrazing, forest conversion), urbanization, deforestation, and extreme weather events such as droughts and coastal surges…” to keep up with the growing human demands (WHO). Collectively, these activities make Earth more vulnerable to desertification, or “the permanent degradation of land that was once arable” (Nunez). Once formerly fertile, land is desertified, it loses its ability to properly support animals and local people (Nunez). Countries around the world have already

witnessed the loss of healthy stemming from a lack of clean land over the years, with water” (WHO). It is more clear developing countries than ever before that disproportionately experiencing desertification is a serious greater losses. problem that yields deadly To further emphasize the consequences when severity of desertification, the unaddressed. European Commission’s World In response to growing concerns Atlas of Desertification declared from environmental activists

that over 75% of global land has been degraded in some form, and that percentage could jump to 90% by 2050 if current trends continue (Nunez).

This pervasive land degradation causes water supplies to eventually dry up. Subsequently, plants that provide food sources grow poorly, and local habitats can be semi-permanently damaged (Nunez). The World Health Organization reported that desertification “often produces several human health problems that range from malnutrition, respiratory disease caused by dusty air, and other diseases around the world, the United Nations created the Convention to Combat Desertification in 1994 (Nunez). Through this Convention, 122 countries have set goals to address and reduce land degradation issues (Nunez). One of these countries set remarkably higher goals than the Convention’s proposed goals-China. Today, around 23% of China consists of forested land (South China Morning Post). In

Post). These trees have mainly been planted on unused farmland and abandoned mines (South China Morning on our countryside and our environment. We’re here to heal the efforts,” said Liu Qingming, Head of the Ningxiang Forestry Bureau (Liu Qingming 00:01:03-00:01:10).

As China continues to encourage its citizens to aid in the reforestation efforts, there have been many small-scale individual efforts made to help 2019, China led a separate Atlanhua and her husband, Mr. initiative to reduce Xu Shijun, as part of Alibaba’s desertification by planting trees Ant Forest Initiative, planted on more than 17 million acres of over 300,000 “love trees” since land, roughly equating to the 2017, on behalf of people on the size of Ireland (South China Ant Forest app (Xu Shijun 00:00:21 Morning Post). As of March of -00:00:24). They endearingly refer 2020, there were 544 million to the trees they plant as ‘love acres of forest in China, with 198 trees’, as they have a very close million acres of forest being relationship with the planted by people--the largest environment and wanted to amount anywhere in the world further illustrate (South China Morning that (New China Post). “These are scars scars with greening Mr. Xu Shijun and Ms. Atlanhua along the way. Ms.

TV). The Ant Forest app is a game where users record low-carbon activities and generate green points that can be used to eventually plant real trees after a certain threshold is met. Mr. Xu Shijun said, “This has not only helped us financially but also improved the ecological environment [here]” (Xu Shijun 00:00:38-00:00:44). Even after Mr. Xu Shijun’s accident in which he lost his leg in 2019, one of the first things on his mind was to resume planting as soon as he got better (New China TV). This couple, among several other people in China and countries around the world, serve as a wonderful inspiration for what humans can do to make the world better.

The collective efforts in China have not only boosted their environment’s health, but have also caused their eco-tourism industry to grow tremendously, with forests nationwide welcoming around 1.8 billion visitors in 2019 (South China Morning Post). Additionally, NASA has reported positive news that the global tree coverage has increased by 5% from 20002017, with China accounting for 25% of that total increase (South China Morning Post). So when the state of environmental affairs appears to be unsolvable or somber, remember the efforts of people like Ms. Atlanhua and Mr. Xu Shijun to feel encouraged and hopeful for a greener future.

Works Cited

“As China continues planting trees, 23% of the country is now covered in forest.” South China Morning Post. 26 Mar. 2020. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP-iBKeqcF0. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

“Couple plants 300,000 “love trees” in desert for Ant Forest users.” New China TV. 26 August 2020. www.youtube.com/ watch?v=zNmFsIR-Ckk. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

Nunez, Christina. “Desertification, explained.” National Geographic. 31 May 2019. www.nationalgeographic.com/ environment/habitats/desertification/ #close. Accessed 20 Oct. 2020.

“Land degradation and desertification.” World Health Organization. www.who.int/ globalchange/ecosystems/ desert/en/. Accessed 19 Oct. 2020.

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