Hyundai Green Zone Project success

Most automakers have made the move to developing hybrid vehicles and controlling emissions in an effort to make their cars more environmentally friendly, but Hyundai has taken that effort a step further by engaging in a global eco-conservation effort that will have a direct positive impact on certain parts of the world.

Hyundai’s foray into the conservation effort began in 2008 with the planting of suaeda glauca (seepweeds) across 30 square kilometers of the Kunshantag desert.

While many may find it odd to plant in the desert, the benefits of doing so are actually great, as the yellow dust that is spread to large areas of Northern China and South Korea during seasonal storms can produce a number of nasty health problems. That the area chosen lies some 660 kilometers north of Beijing tells how strong and far-reaching those storms can be.

Desertification has become a growing concern in many parts of the world due in large part to excessive farming deforestation, both of which are putting millions of lives in danger on a daily basis. Although combatting desertification is the main goal of the seepweed planting, it is also helping boost the local economy, as the plants can be harvested for use in food, medicine in animal feeds.

That provides a major incentive to natives of the area to re-plant and tend to the existing area. Much like their commitment to improving their vehicle line-up, Hyundai plans to continue developing the area, with plans to have over 50 square kilometers planted by the end of 2012.

Those efforts have not gone unnoticed, and the Hyundai Green Zone Project has drawn plaudits from China, who is just one of the countries to benefit from the planting.

There are sure to be more to follow, as Hyundai plan to  share the results of their project at the 10th Conference Of the Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which will run through October 21st. There will be over 3000 attendees, representing 194 countries, at the event, and the positive impact that Hyundai have made in the Inner Mongolia area is sure to be one of the major talking points of the event.

Hyundai appears to be setting out to prove that it is one thing to try and clean up the world with better, more efficient vehicles, but that the true measure of making a positive change for the better comes in the actual implementation of projects that can make a difference to millions of people who may not even know anything about their cars.