[permaculture] Fwd: QRY: Evidence of reforestation increasing rainfall?
Brandy Davis
brandydavis at bellsouth.net
Tue Jun 2 08:50:08 EDT 2009
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Preston Roberts <preston707 at gmail.com>
> Date: June 2, 2009 8:44:55 AM EDT
> To: Brandy Davis <brandydavis at bellsouth.net>
> Subject: Re: [permaculture] QRY: Evidence of reforestation
> increasing rainfall?
>
> Brandy,
> My apologies for the slow response. If it's not too late, it may
> be useful to be aware of Arboriculture and Urban Forestry Online
> when researching the reforestation/rainfall connection. I've not
> read anything about that, but it's worth looking into. Thanks.
>
> http://joa.isa-arbor.com/
>
> This is a great journal with plenty of objective science.
>
> On 5/28/09, Brandy Davis <brandydavis at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> Do you know of any sources of info?
>
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> Brandy
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Keith Johnson <keithdj at mindspring.com>
>> Date: May 28, 2009 11:11:05 AM EDT
>> To: permaculture <permaculture at lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Subject: Re: [permaculture] QRY: Evidence of reforestation
>> increasing rainfall?
>> Reply-To: permaculture <permaculture at lists.ibiblio.org>
>>
>>
>> Chris,
>> I just posted to my blog the story about forest restoration in Borneo
>> that has resulted in a return of rain documented with satellite
>> imaging
>> over a period of years. It's a good place to start.
>>
>>
>> Willie Smits restores a rainforest
>> <http://kjpermaculture.blogspot.com/2009/05/willie-smits-restores-rainforest.html
>> >
>>
>> Keith
>>
>> Chris Wardle wrote:
>>> I'm running into a research stumbling block and wonder if this
>>> somewhat public musing could tap into the greater wisdom accessible
>>> through cyber-networking?
>>>
>>> But first some background ...
>>>
>>> A month or so ago I was doing some bushwalking in the North-East of
>>> Pakistan's Balochistan Province, with one of my younger
>>> brothers-in-law, Danish. As we reached the top of a large mesa-like
>>> hill called Dhera and looked out at his - and my beloved's - home
>>> village of Phugla to the north, we were struck by how few trees we
>>> saw.
>>>
>>> This got us to chatting about climate change, the area's potential
>>> for
>>> agro-forestry, and the possible impact of large scale tree
>>> planting on
>>> the weather pattern.
>>>
>>> Within twenty kilometres to the northwest, native Olive trees thrive
>>> in the area's sandy soils and hot summer, which prompted me to ask,
>>> "With a similar climate and soil, why don't people look to plant
>>> commercial Olive varieties here?"
>>>
>>> It was a question we later repeated with community members and their
>>> answers seemed to confirm our prediction that it rested somewhere
>>> between:
>>>
>>> * a lack of awareness,
>>>
>>> * an unwillingness to collaborate or experiment, and
>>>
>>> * no patience to wait for the long-term gains offered through agro-
>>> forestry.
>>>
>>> Well, these are challenges we'll return to another time, but as we
>>> discussed climate change, Danish noted that there was much more
>>> reliable rainfall fifteen to twenty years ago and remarked that if
>>> tree loss accounted for a decrease in rainfall, would reforestation
>>> improve the rainfall pattern and how much effort would people have
>>> to
>>> put in, to effect real change?
>>>
>>> "Specifically," he asked, "how many trees would every person in this
>>> community have to plant, in order to increase our rainfall - five,
>>> ten, fifty trees each?"
>>>
>>> In answering I said I didn't know, but thought it might be in the
>>> order of thousands, but that was just a very rough guess and I would
>>> go and find out for him.
>>>
>>> So, after a very long introduction, here's my question:
>>>
>>> Is there any well-documented evidence that reforestation mitigates
>>> the
>>> negative impacts of climate change by increasing rainfall, and on
>>> what
>>> sort of scale do we begin to see such effects, if they exist?
>>>
>>> When I look at policy-level climate change mitigation strategies, I
>>> consistently read that we need to plant more trees, but this seems
>>> to
>>> be based on documented evidence of tree loss. Sure, there is
>>> evidence
>>> that tree planting decreases erosion and increases soil moisture
>>> retention, but I am yet to find references to positive rainfall
>>> gains
>>> from reforestation.
>>>
>>> Please don't get me wrong, I'm very much on board with this issue.
>>> In
>>> the previous century I've encouraged and worked with my children on
>>> community tree plantings in my home town of Darwin and on saving the
>>> one remaining remnant of tropical rainforest on the fringe of Darwin
>>> city - the Duke Street Rainforest. More recently, my beloved Maha
>>> and
>>> I spent four wonderful months of joyful, practical learning during
>>> our
>>> voluntary permaculture internship on an organic coffee plantation in
>>> Nepal.
>>>
>>> In my heart of hearts and from my permaculture training, I feel
>>> that a
>>> reforestation strategy should work to increase rainfall, but my
>>> attempts to uncover hard evidence keep running into a brick wall.
>>>
>>> Maybe I'm not using the right search terms or looking in the right
>>> places, so I turn to you, dear reader, for guidance and possible
>>> permaculture solutions and research experience in this regard.
>>>
>>> Thanks in anticipation of your kind responses and my apologies for
>>> cross-posting.
>>>
>>> Looking forward to hearing from you in due course and wishing you
>>> salaams from Quetta,
>>>
>>> Chris Wardle.
>>> ===========
>>> skype: cjwardle
>>> mobile: +92 333 784 1679
>>> ===========
>>> View my profile on
>>> LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cjwardle
>>> or
>>> facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=621431473&ref=profile
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Keith Johnson
>> "Be fruitful and mulch apply."
>> Permaculture Activist Magazine
>> PO Box 5516, Bloomington, IN 47407
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>> - Permaculture Activist <http://www.permacultureactivist.net/>
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>>
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>> <http://transitionindiana.blogspot.com/>
>>
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>> - Association for Regenerative Culture <http://www.arculture.org/>
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>> - Renaissance Farm and Permaculture Center
>> <http://bloomingtongrowers.locallygrown.net/growers/show/212>
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>> <http://bloomingtongrowers.locallygrown.net/>
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>> <http://my.calendars.net/bloomingtonpccal/>
>> - Continental Bioregional Congress Blog
>> <http://bioregional-congress.blogspot.com/>
>> - Switch to Solar Power the Easy Way
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>>
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>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Preston Roberts
> Take Root Project Coordinator
> ISA Certified Arborist # SO-6202A
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