CHAND: Since 2003, the Earth has become greener, despite considerable losses from the Amazon and Indonesian rainforests, an Australian-led study has shown. The amount of global vegetation has risen by almost the equivalent of 4 billion tonnes of carbon compared to twelve years ago.
The researchers, who carried out an analysis of 20 years of satellite data, published their findings in the academic journal Nature Climate Change (citation below), explaining that the increase is the result of several factors.
Lead author, Dr. Yi Liu, a remote-sensing scientists at the University of New South Wales’ Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, said:
“The increase in vegetation primarily came from a lucky combination of environmental and economic factors and massive tree-planting projects in China.”