Aquapro Holland’s WaterBoxx aims to reforest deserts

Creating forest land from deserts is an ambitious undertaking but Aquapro Holland thinks that it can accomplish this feat with the aid of something that resembles a tackle box. Can it really work?

The WaterBoxx is a very precisely manufactured container that will provide water and protection for planted trees and other plants for up to two years.  Once the plant has reached a point where it can survive on its own, the WaterBoxx is lifted off and can be used for the next plant.  Each WaterBoxx can be used five to ten times or five to twenty years.

Of course, as with all planting projects, the right trees, crops and other plants must be found that are native to that area and will thrive in that climate.  Many current deserts resulted from over grazing of animals, deforestation for crops or erosion of soil from poor planting and animal husbandry practices.  With the WaterBoxx, Aquapro Holland is sure that these previously fertile areas can be reclaimed.

The WaterBoxx is a finely engineered environmental mechanism that provides carefully calibrated water and protection to seedlings and small plants.

The instrument collects water by catching rainwater and producing and catching water from condensation. It subsequently distributes over a long(er) period the collected water to the tree placed in the center. Furthermore it stimulates the capillary processing and the prevention of evaporation of groundwater, steadies the temperature around the roots, fights competitive weeds near the planted tree, as well as prevents the damage by rodents. In this way the WaterBoxx stimulates an optimal growth of the planted tree.

The method for using the WaterBoxx is the following:

Do NOT make a deep planting hole, but just a small hole of 10 cm deep at the most, only to break the hard surface layer, put the tree in the hole together with the pot soil, put some of the soil back and put the WaterBoxx on top of it. In case we are planting on rocks and it is not possible to dig a hole, we have to look for a crevice, put the pot soil of the tree on the crevice and put the WaterBoxx over the tree. The roots will automatically enter the crevices and start looking for water. Of course in all cases we have to keep using the natural principles by planting more or less one month before the rainy season begins.

So far, the pilot projects in Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco are doing well.  By using the WaterBoxx and following proper principles of agriculture and forestry, growing trees in current desert areas that once were covered in forest and plants, will be possible.  Aquapro Holland has created a method for trees, and other plants to survive harsh conditions resulting from man’s interference with nature.

This technology does not require massive irrigation or siphoning water from somewhere else to feed the trees and plants that are chosen for WaterBoxx projects.  As water becomes more and more scarce, this will be another positive reason for using the WaterBoxx.

Sometimes technology doesn’t look as sophisticated as it is.  The WaterBoxx is the result of extensive and ongoing research requiring the selection of the right materials, and surface angles for the container.  Further research is required on the part of those that use the WaterBoxx so that the right plants and trees are chosen and the proper methods of sustaining them once the WaterBoxx is removed.

Regardless, the WaterBoxx is a nifty piece of deceptively simple looking technology.  Aquapro Holland expects this little box to accomplish great things.

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