Egyptian scientists have found a way to grow green forests in the desert Bashny.Net

Desertification is a serious problem for all of Africa. There is one simple way to stop the spread of deserts among fertile land: planting forests.

The problem is that in the regions most affected by this phenomenon, just not enough clean water to properly cultivate the trees and keep them healthy.





But an innovative project in Egypt proves that green forest can be obtained by the adapted system for the use of wastewater instead of expensive shipping of poor freshwater.

Located about two hours drive from Cairo, the Serapium forest is part of a program initiated by the government of Egypt in the 90-ies. 200 acres of plantation is home to a variety of local and imported trees from far away, including a very valuable species, such as eucalyptus and mahogany.

Although the soil in this area is typically devoid of nutrients needed to support tree growth, the researchers found that the use of wastewater for irrigation of trees significantly helps in their prosperity. Waste water provide so many nutrients that additional fertilizer is simply not required.





Used for watering trees waste water are the second step in the cleaning process. For the first step using a mechanical filter to remove dirt and debris from the water. The second stage adds the oxygen and the microorganisms involved in the decomposition of organic substances in water. Due to this, the liquid is saturated with phosphates and nitrogen, a mixture similar to that contained in commercial fertilizers.

Usually, this method is not used for all crops — the amount of fertilizer in water can be excessive for some plants, bacteria can potentially contaminate fruits and vegetables. However, in those areas where it is not growing anything that could be applicable for human consumption, this method is safe to use.





Hany El Kateb (Hany El Kateb) – member of forest science at the Technical University of Munich. For many years, scholar, born in Egypt, along with colleagues from Cairo University ain Shams conducts joint research projects on planting trees in the desert.

El Kateb says that eucalyptus trees planted in Egypt, can produce wood four times faster than a typical pine plantations in Germany. The Egyptian trees are large enough to harvest for 15 years, and they produce about 350 cubic meters of wood per hectare. In order to produce the same amount of wood from the German pine plantation needs about 60 years.

Moreover, in Egypt, in fact, there is no better alternative for using treated wastewater. According to the scientist's calculations, if Egypt was able to use for the development of tree plantations 80 percent of its wastewater, which is about 7 billion cubic meters of wastewater annually, about 650 thousand hectares of the Egyptian desert could be used for timber production.

P. S. And remember, only by changing their consumption — together we change the world! ©

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