It is agreed by many people at present that forest coverage in the globe is not sufficient for the sustainability of the earth! Deforestation is very fast all over the world, and replanting programs are relatively at lower pace. With the expansion of urbanization programs across the world, some new lands are allocated for various development projects, and most of these lands are viable forest lands. Within this context, it is needed to analyse this issue in a new approach! How do we develop this world while making it greenish at the same time?
The extent of marginal lands including arid zones is very vast all over the world, it is needed to begin novel ‘’Research and Development programs (R&D programs)’’ to identify some plant varieties apt to these adverse environmental conditions. This program should be launched on global scale under strict supervision of a worldwide body composed of genuine experts! Some people would think that it is impossible to implement such a mega project covering the whole world! Yes, at the beginning, it should be selected a few countries and started a pilot project to understand the feasibility of such a plan of action. For instance, in Sri Lanka, it was started a project by a distinguished local scientist a couple of years ago in order to make the arid lands greenish with a specific tree variety called Gliricidia. There are two species such as Gliricidia sepium and Gliricidia maculate in Sri Lanka. The Gliricidia is leguminous plant, and hence the plant itself can fix the N2 in the air for the survival. Actually, the Gliricidia is the ideal plant type for the arid zones in Sri Lanka.
Yes, it is obvious that there may be many different plant varieties all over the world apt to adverse environmental conditions. It is the responsibility as well as duty of modern botanists, agriculturists, soil scientists, crop scientists and related-experts to identify these varieties within a broad range and prepare a ‘’global register’’ for the benefit of ‘’home-planet’’. Just think about it for a while! If the marginal lands plus arid zones are converted into greenish patches with suitable plant species we all can be happy about the future of mother-earth. In such an atmosphere, the size of the carbon footprint is automatically gone down and as a result the green house effect is minimal! Therefore, making mother-earth greenish must be a duty of today, but not tomorrow.
Good Luck!
Bimal
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