The country suffered severely from the devastating wildfires in the summer of 2019
Environmentalists harness technology to help green Australia's deserts
Australia's deserts are currently sown with seeds.
archival
Floods are a threat to the environment in Australia.
archival
Bushfires in Australia are decimating environmental life.
About "The New York Times"
Bushfires in Australia are a frequent occurrence.
About "The New York Times"
picture
Environmentalists in Australia are asking whether technology can help re-green the hot arid region, at least in part, in the center of the country.
These arid lands are known globally, with their wonderful red sands and towering "Ulor" rocks, which are revered by the locals, but the region is not densely populated, due to the harsh living conditions prevailing in it.
The hinterland makes up about 70 percent of the country, but due to the high temperature in the desert, 85 percent of Australians live within 50 kilometers of the coast, according to 2016 statistics.
However, increasingly catastrophic environmental events, from devastating droughts, fires and record temperatures, to floods, threaten Australian people and animals alike.
The country suffered severely from devastating wildfires in the 2019 summer season.
The newly founded Australian company, Airside, plans to plant millions of trees by 2024, and the company plans to drop seeds from the air, on places where green spaces have been destroyed by fires and logging.
The company worked with environmental experts to develop models for planting seeds, preparing seeds and nutrients in capsules, so that drones could drop them on the selected area.
The company has planted 150,000 trees using drones, she said, noting that hundreds of thousands of trees are scheduled to be planted in the coming months.
However, the country's climatic conditions are difficult and unpredictable. In this regard, Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Sydney, Glenda Wardley, says: "Australia is a dry continent, and sometimes it rains in large quantities, but at unpredictable times." .
Wardley, who leads a research group on desert ecology, is skeptical about how to re-green the arid and semi-arid hinterland. "It might be a bad idea to re-green Australia artificially," she says.
Wardley points out, however, that reforestation is not always the right solution. “We don't want to plant forests where they shouldn't be," she says, adding that instead, work must be done to ensure that forests are not deforested in other areas.
• Catastrophic environmental events, from devastating droughts, fires and record temperatures, to floods, are increasingly threatening Australian people and animals alike.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news