Preserving oxygen sources has become a real problem for humanity as global warming continues unabated. Phytoplankton and forests are the largest sequesters of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which they then return to us in the form of oxygen, unfortunately they face logging and the extraction of natural resources. But in the midst of destruction, there are also great campaigns to restore the planet that give us hope and the Saihanba artificial forest in China is one of them.
A man-made desert
The Asian giant faces serious air pollution problems due to overpopulation and in addition to the fact that at some point in its history, exploitation exceeded what was adequate.
But for some decades now, it has been implementing an ecological development program that is committed to the reforestation of the most affected regions and, precisely, Saihanba is one of the most ambitious projects that are part of the program.
In the northernmost region of Hebei province, there is a land of more than 92 thousand hectares that until a few decades ago was desolate and not exactly natural. The constant overexploitation of the region and the wars that were fought over it caused it to go from an abundant forest full of , to an inhospitable plain.
When the forest barrier of the , everything deteriorated more and more. Sand storms became more frequent and the land deteriorated until it was infertile. The forest ended up reduced to ashes, converted into a man-made desert.
The resurgence of Saihanba forest
Since 1962, the creation of the Saihanb Mechanical Farm was established, which entrusted 369 foresters with the reforestation of the desert terrain. The task was not easy and in fact, many perished in the attempt to re-emerge the other lush forest.
But with great efforts and three generations later, the forest has finally managed to thrive. It went from being an infertile desert to the largest artificial forest in the world, one of the important lungs of oxygen generation for the Asian region.
It is estimated that the Saihanba forest went from having a forest cover of 11.4% to 80% lush. A natural complex that is capable of purifying a total of 137 million cubic meters of which supplies the large surrounding cities. But that’s not all, Saihanba annually sequesters 860,300 tons of carbon dioxide and releases 598,400 tons of oxygen.
It is to be expected that such prosperity of plant life will result in a wide range of species in it and this has been the case, it is estimated that it is home to at least 300 species of terrestrial vertebrates and fish, in addition to insects and a great biodiversity of plants and animals. trees. Without a doubt, the ecosystem has reemerged stronger than ever and is now the largest artificial forest in the world.