Tree planting in the driest place on Earth

[depakid]

Deforestation in the Ica Valley, Peru
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The southern coast of Peru is one of the driest places on Earth. Why would anyone choose this parched location to re-plant a forest?

The strip of desert between the Andean mountains and the Pacific Ocean has an annual average rainfall as low as 1.5mm. By way of comparison, London enjoys around 650mm a year. It's not an obvious place to choose if you're looking for somewhere to plant trees, but for restoration ecologist Oliver Whaley the harsh environment of the northern fringes of the Atacama desert is part of the point.

By helping to restore the shrinking native forests, the aim is to benefit local people and wildlife, prevent soil erosion, and help alleviate climate change. "If we can get trees established here, and learn how to do it with as little water as possible, then it is a model for the rest of the world," he says.

While the plight of the world's rainforests are well known, the same cannot be said of tropical dry forests. These less biodiverse, but equally remarkable forests, face threats every bit as severe as their better known cousins. The Atacama dry forest "is really an ecosystem on its last legs," says Mr Whaley, of London's Kew Gardens - an internationally renowned botanical research institution.

The tree under threat is the huarango, Prosopis limensis, found only in the Ica region of Peru.

In this parched landscape, the hardy huarango is no stranger to thirst. Although rain seldom falls, it is able to capture moisture from other sources - trapping fog on its leaves, directing the water downwards towards its roots. The roots themselves are among the longest of any plant - 50m to 80m - and seek out underground water sources that flow from the Andes.



* Adapted to dry conditions
* Key role in maintaining ecosystems
* Water-seeking roots are among longest in world
* Wood is second hardest, after teak
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The Huarango festival - local children pose with pods collected from the tree.
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More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7934406.stm

[HereSince1628]

1. Must we hate deserts? Is terra-forming truly ethical?

I know that as people of the suburban savannah we relate to grass and trees.

But was the notion of Arbor Day really a sensible idea or was it yet another in a long list of terra-forming attempts
and really no better at preserving "nature" than turning it over with Mr Deere's steel bladed self-cleaning plow?

I understand that humans have conciously and unconsciously terra-formed this planet. I just wonder if our choices to "support nature" are unbiased with respect to our own preferences.