The NASA study shows that the Earth is "greener" than 20 years ago thanks to China and India

Every day, we see that deforestation destroys the planet's vegetation. That is why, for many, the conclusions of a
A new NASA study may seem strange to you.

"The world is literally a place greener than it was 20 years ago," says the report released last week.

In addition, it reveals that, in a "counter-intuitive" way, China and India, the two most populous countries of the world, are the main sources of this greening.

What is the reason for this discovery?

Forests and agriculture

For almost 20 years, two NASA satellites have been collecting data and images of the Earth to observe the behavior of their vegetation.

By badyzing this information, the researchers realized that during these two decades, the foliage had increased in an area equivalent to that of all tropical rainforests in the Amazon.

The great contribution of

China

This increase in vegetation is mainly due to the fact that the country has implemented programs of conservation and extension of its forests, as a strategy to reduce the effects of soil erosion, air pollution and climate change.

The increase in greenery is also due, to a lesser extent, to an intensive increase in agricultural land in this country.

In the case of India, it is the opposite. Greening is due to the increase in agriculture and only a small part to the increase of forests.

"This does not mean that forest areas are being replaced by farmland," said Chi Chen, a researcher at the Department of Land and Environment at Boston University, who led the 39; study.

"In many cases, this is due to the use of the same land that becomes more productive," he says. In both countries, production of cereals, vegetables and fruits has increased between 35% and 40% since 2000.

Improve but …

For the authors of the study in general, their findings are good news.

"In the 70s and 80s in India and China, the loss of vegetation was not good," said Rama Nemani, a researcher at NASA's Ames center, who took part in the investigation into a communicated.

"In the 90s, people realized that, and today, things have improved." But they also make warnings and nuances.

They say that this greening trend depends on several factors. In India, for example, the increase in food production depends on the irrigation of groundwater. If this water runs out, the trend may change.

In addition, they point out that the increase in greenery worldwide does not compensate for the damage caused by the loss of natural vegetation in tropical regions, such as Brazil and Indonesia.

"The consequences for sustainability and biodiversity in these ecosystems remain," says the report.

In addition, as Nemani explains, "land devoted to agriculture does not allow carbon storage, as is the case of forests".