Massive reforestation isn’t a pipe dream; it can have real benefits for people. In the late 1990s, environmental deterioration in western China became critical, with vast areas resembling the Dust Bowl of the American Midwest in the 1930s. Six bold programmes were introduced, targeting over 100m hectares of land for reforestation. Grain for Green is the largest and best known of these. These radical tree-planting programmes had an amazing effect as the trees stabilized the soils, greatly reducing soil erosion and the impacts of flooding.
