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 <br>Desert 'carbon farming' to curb CO2<br>
 <br>1 August 2013<br>
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 <br>By Matt McGrath<br>
 <br>Environment reporter, BBC News<br>
 <br>Scientists say that planting great deals of jatropha trees in desert areas could be an effective method of curbing emissions of CO2.<br>
 <br>Dubbed "carbon farming", researchers state the idea is financially competitive with state-of-the-art carbon capture and storage tasks.<br>
 <br>But critics state the concept could be have unexpected, negative effects including driving up food rates.<br>
 <br>The research study has been published, external in the journal Earth System Dynamics.<br>
 <br>Seeds of change<br>
 <br>Jatropha curcas is a plant that came from in Central America and is effectively adjusted to severe conditions consisting of extremely arid deserts.<br>
 <br>It is already grown as a biofuel, external in some parts of the world due to the fact that its seeds can produce oil.<br>
 <br>In this research study, German scientists revealed that one hectare of jatropha could capture as much as 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The researchers based their price quotes on trees presently growing in trial plots in Egypt and in the Negev desert.<br>
 <br>"The outcomes are overwhelming," said Prof Klaus Becker, from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.<br>
 <br>"There was good growth, an excellent action from these plants. I feel there will be no problem trying it on a much bigger scale, for instance 10 thousand hectares in the beginning," he stated.<br>
 <br>According to the researchers a plantation that would cover 3 percent of the Arabian desert would soak up all the CO2 produced by automobiles and trucks in Germany over a twenty years duration.<br>
 <br>The scientists say that an important aspect of the strategy would be the accessibility of desalination centers. This implies that initially, any plantations would be confined to seaside areas.<br>
 <br>They are hoping to develop bigger trials in desert locations of Oman or Qatar. Prof Becker states that unlike other plans that simply offset the carbon that individuals produce, the planting of jatropha could be an excellent, short-term service to environment modification.<br>
 <br>"I believe it is a great idea since we are really drawing out co2 from the environment - and it is completely different in between extracting and preventing."<br>
 <br>According to the researcher's calculations the costs of suppressing carbon dioxide through the planting of trees would be in between 42 and 63 euros per tonne. This makes it competitive with other methods, such as the more high tech carbon capture and storage, external (CCS).<br>
 <br>A number of countries are presently trialling this technology, external however it has yet to be deployed commercially.<br>
 <br>Growing jatropha not only soaks up CO2 however has other advantages. The plants would help to make desert locations more habitable, and the plant's seeds can be gathered for biofuel state the researchers, offering a financial return.<br>
 <br>"Jatropha is perfect to be developed into biokerosene - it is even better than biodiesel,"  Becker.<br>
 <br>But other specialists in this area are not encouraged. They point to the truth that in 2007 and 2008 big numbers of jatropha trees were planted for biofuel, particularly in Africa. But a lot of these ventures ended in tears,, external as the plants were not really successful in dealing with dry conditions.<br>
 <br>Lucy Hurn is the biofuels campaign supervisor for the charity, Actionaid. She says that while jatropha was once viewed as the excellent, green hope the truth was extremely different.<br>
 <br>"When jatropha was presented it was seen as a wonder crop, it would grow on scrubland or limited land," she stated.<br>
 <br>"But there are typically people who need marginal land to graze their animals, they are getting food from that area - we wouldn't class the land as limited."<br>
 <br>She explained that jatropha is extremely toxic and can pollute the land it is grown on, even in a desert. And she likewise had issues about the fairness of the idea.<br>
 <br>"It is still someone else's land. Why enter and grow these massive plantations to handle an issue these people didn't in fact cause?"<br>
 <br>Follow Matt on Twitter, external.<br>
 <br>More on this story<br>
 <br>'Carpets of seaweed' grown for fuel. Video, 00:03:05'Carpets of seaweed' grown for fuel<br>
 <br>1 July 2013<br>
 <br>Biofuels are 'illogical method'<br>
 <br>Published<br>
 <br>15 April 2013<br>
 <br>Related internet links<br>
 <br>Universität Hohenheim<br>
 <br>European Geosciences Union<br>
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