Incentivising peatland restoration and rewetting actions through a result-based EU carbon farming mechanism

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14750 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Asger Strange Olesen ◽

Sarah Pyndt Andersen

Keyword(s):

Carbon Cycle ◽

Land Management ◽

Carbon Stock ◽

Management Practices ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Climate Mitigation ◽

Emission Sources ◽

Carbon Credit ◽

Peatland Restoration ◽

The Eu

Intact peatland plays an important role for the carbon cycle, climate mitigation and provision of ecosystems services due to their role as a permanent water-locked carbon stock and ongoing sink. However, years of unsustainable land management practices have resulted in degradation of peatlands in the EU and around 220 Mt CO&#8322; eq. are emitted in the EU per year[1] from peatland drainage alone. New approaches to peatland restoration and rewetting are being explored to ensure effective and efficient climate actions. Learning from and building on already operational sub-national and national result-based payment peatland mechanism and programmes, this study provides recommendations on designing and operating an effective and efficient result-based carbon farming peatland mechanism in the EU. The findings suggest that a results-based carbon farming mechanism offers a promising way to incentivise, e.g. governments, authorities and farmers to develop and implement peatland restoration and rewetting projects. Results-based mechanisms provide new and additional sources of finance to counter high upfront restoration costs, as well as provide an opportunity to valorise GHG emissions from large, geographically confined emission sources based on current carbon credit prices.<div> <div> [1] Source: Grifswald Mire Centre (2019). https://www.greifswaldmoor.de/files/dokumente/Infopapiere_Briefings/202003_CAP%20Policy%20Brief%20Peatlands%20in%20the%20new%20EU%20Version%204.8.pdf </div> </div>

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Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Forest and Agricultural Lands: Reducing Emissions

EDIS ◽

10.32473/edis-ae443-2008 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 2009 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Solomon G. Haile ◽

Clyde W. Fraisse ◽

Ramachandran P-K Nair ◽

Vimala D. Nair

Keyword(s):

Global Warming ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Land Management ◽

Greenhouse Effect ◽

Management Practices ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas Mitigation ◽

Basic Information ◽

Biological Engineering ◽

Agricultural Lands

AE443, a 7-page fact sheet by Solomon G. Haile, Clyde W. Fraisse, P.K. Ramachandran Nair, and Vimala D. Nair, is part of the Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Forest and Agricultural Lands series. It provides basic information about greenhouse gases (GHGs), the greenhouse effect, and global warming, and sources of GHG emissions from forest and agricultural lands and discusses land management practices that have potential to reduce GHG emissions in the agricultural and forestry sectors of Florida. Includes references. Published by the UF Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, December 2008.

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Integrating LCLM feedbacks into climate models: an emulator approach

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10265 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Shruti Nath ◽

Quentin Lejeune ◽

Lea Beusch ◽

Carl Schleussner ◽

Sonia I. Seneviratne

Keyword(s):

Land Management ◽

Management Practices ◽

Heat Waves ◽

Spatially Explicit ◽

Climate Mitigation ◽

Earth System ◽

Climate Feedbacks ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation ◽

Global Mean ◽

Adaptation And Mitigation

The role of Land Cover and Land Management (LCLM) changes in shaping the climate has garnered increasing interest, particularly in light of its potential for climate adaptation and mitigation. Earth System Models (ESMs), however, have hitherto handled LCLM-climate interactions as a unidirectional process, lacking explicit treatment of LCLM-Climate feedbacks. Consequences of these feedbacks nevertheless hold social relevance, affecting agricultural systems, food provision and prices. Furthermore, LCLM can be linked to extreme climate events such as heat waves and drought, which in turn carry economic costs through loss in worker productivity. It is thus essential to integrate LCLM processes and their feedbacks into ESMs, in order to build consistent storylines for future development pathways that take into account their potential for adaptation and mitigation. Moreover, to ensure robustness in the detected LCLM signals, such integration should be done over a range of ESMs.Emulators represent a computationally cheap but effective way of approximating ESMs. Here we outline an emulator approach to represent LCLM-Climate feedbacks based on a framework developed by Beusch et al. (2019). This framework provides spatially explicit data by translating annual global mean temperatures into local temperatures and can be extended to use for other relevant variables. The emulator is developed as part of the LAnd MAnagement for CLImate Mitigation and Adaptation (LAMACLIMA) project, and is trained on dedicated ESM simulations that isolate the effects of key land management practices focussed on by LAMACLIMA: irrigation, de/reforestation and wood. Variables considered include temperature, evapotranspiration, runoff, crop yields, carbon storage and heat stress. Besides providing spatially explicit representation of these variables, the emulator also allows flexibility in prescribing land-use scenarios under which their responses are explored.Beusch, L. Gudmundsson, and S. I. Seneviratne: Emulating Earth System Model Temperatures: from Global Mean Temperature Trajectories to Grid-point Level Realizations on Land, doi: 10.5194/esd-2019-34, 2019 (accepted for ESD).

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The Role of Biochar in Ameliorating Disturbed Soils and Sequestering Soil Carbon in Tropical Agricultural Production Systems

Applied and Environmental Soil Science ◽

10.1155/2013/354965 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2013 ◽

pp. 1-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Wolde Mekuria ◽

Andrew Noble

Keyword(s):

Soil Carbon ◽

Land Management ◽

Cover Crops ◽

Carbon Stock ◽

Large Scale ◽

Management Practices ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Grey Literature ◽

Resource Constrained ◽

The Tropics

Agricultural soils in the tropics have undergone significant declines in their native carbon stock through the long-term use of extractive farming practices. However, these soils have significant capacity to sequester CO2through the implementation of improved land management practices. This paper reviews the published and grey literature related to the influence of improved land management practices on soil carbon stock in the tropics. The review suggests that the implementation of improved land management practices such as crop rotation, no-till, cover crops, mulches, compost, or manure can be effective in enhancing soil organic carbon pool and agricultural productivity in the tropics. The benefits of such amendments were, however, often short-lived, and the added organic matters were usually mineralized to CO2within a few cropping seasons leading to large-scale leakage. We found that management of black carbon (C), increasingly referred to as biochar, may overcome some of those limitations and provide an additional soil management option. Under present circumstances, recommended crop and land management practices are inappropriate for the vast majority of resource constrained smallholder farmers and farming systems. We argue that expanding the use of biochar in agricultural lands would be important for sequestering atmospheric CO2and mitigating climate change, while implementing the recommended crop and land management practices in selected areas where the smallholder farmers are not resource constrained.

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Fire and carbon management in a diversified rangelands economy: research, policy and implementation challenges for northern Australia

The Rangeland Journal ◽

10.1071/rj13122 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 36 (4) ◽

pp. 313 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Dionne Walsh ◽

Jeremy Russell-Smith ◽

Robyn Cowley

Keyword(s):

Land Management ◽

Management Practices ◽

Research Policy ◽

Management Practice ◽

Fire Suppression ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Complete Removal ◽

Dry Season ◽

Management Tool ◽

Northern Australia

Burning of savanna is a globally important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In Australia, burning of savanna contributes between 2% and 4% annually of the nation’s reportable emissions. Complete removal of this source of emissions is unrealistic because fire is a ubiquitous natural process and important land-management tool. In the rangelands of northern Australia, fire is used to manage habitat for conservation, control woodland thickening, manipulate pastures for grazing and is an essential component of indigenous cultural and land-management practice. There has been a concerted attempt in recent times to move away from complete fire suppression and its consequence: frequent, extensive and high intensity wildfires occurring late in the dry season. In fire-adapted vegetation types, prescribed early dry season fires help reduce the incidence of late season wildfires and consequently the amount of GHG emissions produced. The emergence of a carbon economy affords a potential opportunity for land managers to diversify their livelihoods by adopting fire-management practices that reduce GHG emissions and increase carbon sequestration. However, in order to realise benefits from this emerging economy, there is a need to identify and address a range of barriers affecting community participation. The papers in this Special Issue document current scientific knowledge, policy issues and pathways to participation, with particular reference to Australia’s savanna rangelands. This introductory paper outlines how northern Australia has both the opportunity and requirement to develop a diversified rangelands economy to realise multiple conservation, economic and emissions outcomes.

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Biogeochemical effects of land cover and land management

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19737 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Suqi Guo ◽

Julia Pongratz ◽

Felix Havermann ◽

Andrea Alessandri ◽

Dim Coumou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Cover ◽

Carbon Cycle ◽

Land Management ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Climate Mitigation ◽

Earth System ◽

Model Uncertainties ◽

System Models ◽

Wood Harvesting ◽

Earth System Models

Land cover and land management (LCLM) changes are important sources of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, constituting about 10% of current annual CO2 emissions, or about one third of cumulative emissions over the industrial era. However, simulations with Earth system models (ESMs) show a large range of CO2 emissions from LCLM. Several reasons for the divergence in estimates have been identified, in particular differences in simulated biomass and soil carbon stocks, and if and which land management practices are included in models. The divergence of model estimates is particularly worrisome since LCLM practices are discussed as key mitigation tools or &#8220;negative emission technologies&#8221; to reach the temperature goals of Paris Agreement. In the LAMACLIMA project (land management for climate mitigation and adaptation) we therefore conduct a detailed analysis of several LCLM practices across three ESMs to improve our understanding about model uncertainties. The present study aims to quantify the effects of forest cover changes and wood harvesting on the global carbon cycle, globally important LCLM practices with relevance also for physical climate and economic production. We conduct idealized global experiments of deforestation, afforestation and wood harvesting over a 150-year simulation period under present climate. All forcings (solar, trace gases, aerosols) are held constant at present-day levels to isolate the climatic effects from different LCLM scenarios on the carbon cycle. All experiments are conducted by three different Earth system models (MPI-ESM, EC-EARTH and CESM) to quantify inter-model uncertainty and potentially uncover specific model biases. The analysis focuses on the transient response of carbon fluxes after the LCLM practice is in order to unravel model differences concerning temporal dynamics of LCLM effects and to show how quickly signals emerge that could potentially mitigate climate change. With this research, we will provide a deeper understanding about simulated LCLM effects on the carbon cycle and also report model uncertainties. Together with parallel efforts to quantify biogeophysical effects of LCLM, our study will also lead to assess the overall potential of LCLM as a means for land-based climate mitigation.

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GHGs Emission from the Agricultural Sector within EU-28: A Multivariate Analysis Approach

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14206495 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (20) ◽

pp. 6495

Author(s):

Endre Harsányi ◽

Bashar Bashir ◽

Gafar Almhamad ◽

Omar Hijazi ◽

Mona Maze ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Multivariate Analysis ◽

Co2 Emissions ◽

Agricultural Sector ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Significant Trend ◽

Analysis Approach ◽

Climate Mitigation ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation ◽

The Eu

Climate mitigation and adaptation planning (CMAP) has recently been implemented across the EU-28 to reduce GHG emissions (CO2, CH4, N2O). Thus, the aim of this study was to provide an overview of GHG emissions from the agricultural sector in the EU-28 from 1990 to 2019, and cluster the EU-28 countries regarding their total GHG emissions. The results emphasize the positive impact of CMAP through a negative trend of the total GHG emissions (−2653.01 thousand tons/year, p < 0.05). Despite the positive and not significant trend of the total CO2 emissions, both CH4 and N2O exhibited a negative and significant trend. At the country scale, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands showed the highest reduction in total GHG emissions, by −282.61thousand tons/year (p < 0.05), −266.40 thousand tons/year (p < 0.05), and −262.91 thousand tons/year (p < 0.05), respectively. The output of the multivariate analysis approach indicates changes in the pattern of GHG emissions between 1990 and 2019, where CO2 emissions decreased in the case of Poland and Czechia. The output of this study highlights the positive impact of CMAP, adopted by EU countries, in minimizing GHG emissions. Despite some fluctuations in CO2 emissions, strategies for attaining carbon neutrality in the agricultural sector, across the European Union, should be pursued.

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Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Fluxes Under Different Cover Crop Systems

Frontiers in Climate ◽

10.3389/fclim.2021.742320 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

Author(s):

Yanyu Wang ◽

Eri Saikawa ◽

Alexander Avramov ◽

Nicholas S. Hill

Keyword(s):

Land Management ◽

White Clover ◽

Cover Crops ◽

Cover Crop ◽

Management Practices ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Growing Season ◽

Carbon Equivalent ◽

Crimson Clover ◽

Gas Fluxes

Cultivated lands that support high productivity have the potential to produce a large amount of GHG emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4). Intensive land management practices can stimulate CO2, N2O, and CH4 emissions from the soil. Cover crop establishment is considered as one of the sustainable land management strategies under warm and humid environmental conditions. To better understand how the incorporation of cover crops affect three major GHGs, we compared trace gas fluxes in a no-till maize field over the whole growing season in 2018 in a no cover crop (Tr) system and three cover crop systems: crimson clover (CC), cereal rye (CR), and living mulch (LM) using white clover. In 2019, we further explored potential differences in the three GHGs between in-row (IR) and between-row (BWR) of maize for LM and Tr systems during the early growing season. Measurements were taken using a cavity ring-down spectroscopy gas analyzer in Watkinsville, GA. In 2018, the highest CO2 flux (7.00 μmol m−2 s−1) was observed from BWR of maize for LM. The maximum N2O flux observed in LM on June 20th in 2018 was when soil N increase rate was the largest. Soils served as sinks for CH4 and Tr system served as the smallest CH4 sink compared to the other three cover crop systems. For N2O, the highest fluxes were observed from the TrIR plot (4.13 μmol m−2 hr−1) in 2019 with the greatest N inputs. In 2019, we observed a smaller CH4 sink in TrIR (−0.13 μmol m−2 hr−1) compared to TrBWR (−0.67 μmol m−2 hr−1) due potentially to greater NH4+ inhibition effects on CH4 consumption from greater N fertilizer inputs. The net carbon equivalent (CE) from May 23rd to Aug 16th in 2018, taking into account the three GHG fluxes, soil carbon content, and fertilizer, irrigation, and herbicide application, were 32–97, 35–101, 63–139, and 40–106 kg ha−1 yr−1 for CC, CR, LM, and Tr, respectively. LM had the lowest net CE after removing white clover respiration (−16–60 kg ha−1 yr−1). Our results show that implementing different types of cover crop systems and especially the LM system have some potential to mitigate climate change.

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Evaluation of different peatland management scenarios to reduce GHG emissions from fires. A case study in tropical peatlands in Ogan Komering Ilir, Indonesia.

BOIS & FORETS DES TROPIQUES ◽

10.19182/bft2021.347.a36352 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 347 ◽

pp. 107-108

Author(s):

María José RODRÍGUEZ VÁSQUEZ

Keyword(s):

Land Management ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Management Options ◽

Promising Alternative ◽

Mitigation Scenarios ◽

Peatland Restoration ◽

Tropical Peatlands ◽

Biomass Valorisation ◽

The Impact

Tropical peatlands play an important role as carbon pools. Over the last decades, deforestation and degradation of Indonesian peatlands have led to a significant amount of carbon loss. Anthropogenic fires damage the ecology, the economy, and the public health of the entire region. This PhD is based on a case study in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) district of Indonesia. In OKI, traditional practices discard unwanted biomass with open fires, and often result in peat fires. We considered different scenarios of biomass valorisation to incite changes of practices, and to reduce peatland fires. We assessed the feasibility of converting aboveground biomass into bioenergy or other ligno-cellulosic materials. We estimated a business as usual (BAU) scenario by evaluating sources of emission of the current land management. We investigated potential mitigation scenarios, including biomass valorisation and peatland restoration, as alternative land management options. We evaluated the impact of these mitigation scenarios on climate change, according to their economic limitations. The analysis of GHG emissions in the BAU scenario shows that areas affected by fire release 70 ± 30, 140 ± 31 and 160 ± 27 Tonnes CO2-eq/ha/yr for degraded peatland, oil palm plantations and pulpwood plantations, respectively. Areas not affected by fires release 19 ± 12, 85 ± 21 and 108 ± 15 Tonnes CO2-eq/ha/yr, respectively. For the restoration scenario, we found similar GHG emissions of –0.9 Tonnes CO2-eq/ha/yr for the three land uses. Encouraging the biomass market in the areas where it is profitable for farmers could help reducing fire occurrences, without government investment. We instead suggest focusing government efforts on other methods such as incentive payments, or peatland restoration strategies, in the areas where biomass market is not economically viable. For the region, we find that biomass valorisation can reduce the GHG emissions by 4% to 6% compared to the BAU. As such, biomass valorisation is a promising alternative to current practices, potentially reducing the negative impact of fires while generating a new income for the population.

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How does agroecology practices impact soil carbon stock and fluxes in a maize field?

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14949 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nicolas L. Breil ◽

Thierry Lamaze ◽

Vincent Bustillo ◽

Benoit Coudert ◽

Solen Queguiner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Organic Carbon ◽

Soil Organic Carbon ◽

Soil Respiration ◽

Carbon Cycle ◽

Soil Temperature ◽

Soil Carbon ◽

Carbon Stock ◽

Management Practices ◽

Crop Management ◽

Respiration Rates

Soil plays a major role on carbon cycle, through both carbon stock which is one of the most important carbon terrestrial pool and soil CO2 efflux which represents one of the largest amounts of natural carbon emissions. It is known that soil respiration, through roots respiration and carbon mineralisation by microorganisms, is mainly controlled by temperature and humidity but the impact of crop management practices still needs to be investigated. Previous studies have demonstrated that crop management and more particularly reduced or no-tillage (NT) as well as cover-crops (CC) play a key role to mitigate soil respiration and increase soil organic carbon (SOC) content, but the impacts of the synergy of these practices are still unclear. Our study aims at better understanding the effect of sustainable agriculture through agroecological crop management practices on soil carbon dynamics.Soil respiration was measured in south-west of France on two distinct sites, CAS in 2018 and ABA in 2019, characterized by different initial soil carbon content, 106.9 % higher in CAS than in ABA. Each site included two joint maize fields using agroecological (NT and CC, named Agroeco) and conventional (tillage and bare soil, named Conv) practises. Agroeco have been settled for 12 and 19 years at CAS and ABA, respectively, at the time of experiment. Soil respiration chamber as well as temperature and moisture sensors were used to collect data twice a month, while pedoclimatic variables were monitored continuously on each field. Soil samples were collected in the fields before the experiment to define SOC and nutrient content as well as physical properties, through the entire soil profile.Mean soil respiration rate was higher on ABA-Agroeco (0.86&#160;g CO2&#160;m-&#178;&#160;h-1) than on ABA-Conv (0.50&#160;g CO2&#160;m-&#178;&#160;h-1) and was significantly correlated with soil temperature and humidity at Conv and only with soil temperature at Agroeco. Similar relations were found at CAS but with lower soil respiration rates. SOC concentration for ABA in the top 0-15&#160;cm was higher at Agroeco (13.4&#160;g&#160;kg-1) than at Conv (8.0&#160;g&#160;kg-1) but little difference was found at CAS where SOC was high. These results suggest that soil respiration rates depend less on soil humidity on Agroeco than on Conv because agroecology management practices both keep more water at the surface and store additional soil organic carbon in soils, inducing more activity through the carbon cycle with higher soil respiration rate. For both sites, agroecological practices induced higher SOC content compared to conventional ones, however, only for ABA site, soil respiration was higher for agroecological field while SOC content was higher. This study supports the idea that agroecological management practices can increase carbon cycle activity by increasing soil carbon stocks thus allowing the mitigation of greenhouse gases emissions and climate change, even by increasing soil CO2 efflux.

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