By The European Times | Created at 2026-08-05 09:35:28 | Updated at 2026-08-05 21:22:43
15 hours ago
China has carried out one of the largest ecological projects in history, planting trees in an area the size of Algeria, Wirtualna Polska reports.
Planting 78 billion trees in China
Since the 1980s, China has planted an estimated 78 billion new trees. However, an analysis by scientists from the universities of Tianjin, Utrecht and China Agricultural University shows that the “Great Green Wall” has had serious side effects.
According to the researchers, the massive greening has led to a critical limitation of water resources in the eastern and northwestern regions, which occupy 74% of the country’s territory.
The authors of the study note that the new forests have increased evapotranspiration – the combination of water evaporation from the soil and its release from plants. As a result, moisture has moved to the Tibetan Plateau, leaving densely populated eastern China with a deficit. Thus, the conversion of grasslands to forests “increases evaporation and precipitation, but at the same time worsens the water balance.”
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that North China contains 46% of the population but only 20% of the water reserves, according to available data.
The scientists’ conclusions emphasize that “further reforestation programs in China must take into account changes in the hydrological cycle” to avoid leaving entire regions without drinking water and resources for agriculture.
Meanwhile, it became clear that Chinese scientists have created an unusual device that collects electricity directly from raindrops. Each raindrop that falls on a special floating film generates a short electrical pulse, enough to power dozens of LEDs. In tests, a small panel measuring just 0.3 square meters was able to simultaneously light 50 light bulbs.
The unique feature of this technology is that water is not just a medium, but part of an electrical circuit – this makes the system significantly lighter and cheaper than traditional analogues. During tests, a prototype measuring just 0.3 square meters was able to simultaneously power 50 commercial LEDs. It is reported that the device uses water not only as a support, but also as part of the electrical circuit, which significantly reduces the cost and weight of the structure.
Illustrative photo: pexels-collins-zhao-1153333-8776823
