Background
The authors write that "the updated Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) third generation global satellite Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data set provides very detailed global information on the state of vegetation from 1982 to 2011." And, therefore, they say that ...

What was done
... using these data they "investigated the changes in the vegetation photosynthetic activity in the Asia-Pacific (AP) (including Australia, South East Asia, China, and the Pacific Coast of North America) region, by discerning gradual changes in two key metrics: 1) the cumulative annual NDVI in each year and 2) the seasonality or variance in that index," after which they "assessed changes using break and turning points using three statistical models (least-square linear, expanded-consecutive linear and piecewise regression models."

What was learned
The twelve researchers - hailing from Canada, China, France and the United States - determined that the AP region as a whole experienced increasing NDVI from 1982 through 2011, with an average rate of 5.30 x 10^-4 NDVI per year, which equates to 0.13% per year or 1.3% per decade.

What it means
In spite of the many deleterious effects that the world's climate alarmists claim the earth has experienced - and continues to experience - as a result of the historical and still-ongoing increase in the atmosphere's CO2 concentration caused by mankind's burning of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil, the planet's terrestrial vegetation appears to not be suffering too much over the Asia-Pacific region as a result. In fact, it is not suffering at all. In fact, it would actually appear to be doing better than ever! And that is why this phenomenon, as Chen et al. note, is also known as "greening." And if one goes to the Greening of the Earth section of our website, one can see that such is the case the world over.