Aug 9, 2023 02:02 AM
https://knowablemagazine.org/article/soc...reen-walls
EXCERPT: Despite this problematic history, the vision of a green wall of trees to hold back the desert remains very popular, with billions of dollars pledged and spent in China on the Three Norths Shelterbelt Program, and in Africa on the Great Green Wall Initiative.
As ecologists and geographers who have worked in the drylands of Africa and Asia for decades, we argue that the idea of “green walls” is not only misguided but dangerous. Bound to fail for both social and ecological reasons, the green wall idea reinforces false assumptions about the nature of environmental change in the world’s drylands — lending powerful support to misguided notions that top-down, technocentric interventions are the best. We should abandon the idea to make room for more realistic, evidence-based and effective interventions. (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPT: Despite this problematic history, the vision of a green wall of trees to hold back the desert remains very popular, with billions of dollars pledged and spent in China on the Three Norths Shelterbelt Program, and in Africa on the Great Green Wall Initiative.
As ecologists and geographers who have worked in the drylands of Africa and Asia for decades, we argue that the idea of “green walls” is not only misguided but dangerous. Bound to fail for both social and ecological reasons, the green wall idea reinforces false assumptions about the nature of environmental change in the world’s drylands — lending powerful support to misguided notions that top-down, technocentric interventions are the best. We should abandon the idea to make room for more realistic, evidence-based and effective interventions. (MORE - missing details)