Mitigation of atmospheric CO2 concentrations by increased carbon sequestration in the soil

 The International Panel on Climate Change distinguished three main options for the mitigation of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations by the agricultural sector: (1) reduction of agriculture-related emissions, (2) creation and strengthening of C sinks in the soil, and (3) production of biofuels to replace fossil fuels. Options for sustained sequestration of C in the soil through adapted management of land resources are reviewed in the context of the ongoing discussion on the need to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Enhanced sequestration of atmospheric CO₂ in the soil, ultimately as stable humus, may well prove a more lasting solution than (temporarily) sequestering CO₂ in the standing biomass through reforestation and afforestation. Such actions will also help to reverse processes of land degradation, thus contributing to sustained food productivity and security for the people in the regions concerned. Received: 1 December 1997     

Impact of intensive agricultural management on carbon and nitrogen dynamics in the humid tropics

ABSTRACT

The concern about global climate change continues to increase research interest regarding carbon and nitrogen dynamics in the soil. This is based on their role in maintaining soil fertility, which can instead be a source of greenhouse gas emissions if not managed properly, while threatening food security. Humid tropical conditions enable intensive agricultural cultivation with various cropping systems to fulfill the demand for agriculture products. Such climate accelerates the soil organic matter decomposition rate so that it strongly influences soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics. However, inappropriate implementation of intensive agricultural systems that does not consider the balance between carbon and nitrogen input and output, negatively affects soil fertility, mainly decreasing soil organic carbon and total soil nitrogen, changing the composition of carbon and nitrogen owing to the loss of soil organic matter through erosion and leaching, thus, causing soil degradation. Mitigation strategies can be performed by using organic matter and crop residue, crop rotation and improvement of crop pattern, soil tillage and fertilization, cover crops and mulch. Sustainable land management for maintenance of soil organic carbon and total soil nitrogen dynamics should be locally and globally developed and adopted for a more sustainable agricultural system. Recovery of soil capacity to accumulate carbon is a strategic step to reduce the impact of climate change. Hence, an intensive study on efficient soil organic carbon management is required to improve food production and mitigation of climate change to attain sustainable development goals in 2030.     

Farmer Perceptions and Responses to Soil Degradation in Swaziland

Soil degradation is globally concerning due to its adverse effects on the environment and agricultural production. Much of Swaziland is at risk from degradation. This paper assesses farmer perceptions and responses to soil degradation in 2002 and 2014, focusing on two land uses that underpin rural livelihoods: arable land and rangeland areas. It uses repeat household surveys and semi‐structured interviews, in two case study chiefdoms in the country's middleveld (KaBhudla and Engcayini) in the first longitudinal study of its kind. We find that observations of land degradation are perceived mainly through changes in land productivity, with chemical degradation occurring predominantly on arable land and physical degradation and erosion mainly in rangeland areas. Changes in rainfall are particularly important in determining responses. While perceptions of the causes and impacts of degradation largely concur with the scientific literature, responses were constrained by poor land availability, shorter and more unpredictable cropping seasons because of changing rains and low awareness, access to or knowledge of agricultural inputs. We suggest that sustainable arable land management can be enhanced through improved access to alternative sources of water, use of management practices that retain soil and moisture and greater access to agricultural inputs and capacity building to ensure their appropriate use. We suggest collaborative management for settlement planning that integrates soil conservation and livestock management strategies such as controlled stocking levels and rotational grazing could improve land quality in rangeland areas. Together, these approaches can help land users to better manage change. © 2016 The Authors. Land Degradation & Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

加强红壤退化分区治理,促进东南红壤丘陵区现代高效生态农业发展

本文概述了我国东南丘陵区红壤退化现状、原因和治理意义,总结了30年来不同阶段红壤退化治理的成果,分析了红壤区域进一步发展现代高效生态农业的途径。论文提出针对红壤区域保障粮食安全、保护生态环境和应对全球气候变化的多重目标,在常规化学农业基础上,充分利用区域水热资源优势,融合生态农业、循环农业和智慧农业等模式的科学理念和优势,创新区域现代高效农业的建设原理、关键技术、配套政策法规和管理体系;针对红壤退化的区域特征,开展流域尺度红壤退化的综合治理和适度规模经营,建立红壤流域智慧农业发展模式,促进红壤区域农业现代化。     

基于遥感评价城市扩张对耕地质量等级结构及产能的影响

快速的城市化过程占用大量的优质耕地资源,引发耕地质量下降和产能损失已成为中国耕地保护面临的重要问题。该文利用遥感影像和耕地质量等级数据评价了近30 a来江苏城市扩展对耕地质量和产能的综合影响。研究发现江苏的城市扩张迅速,因城市建设引起的耕地损失约占耕地总量的7%。其中被占用耕地中以优质耕地为主,一、二、三等级耕地约占60%。从质量等级结构上来看,耕地质量结构有恶化的趋势,表现在一、二、三等优质耕地比例下降1.5%,而四、五、六、七等劣质耕地同比例上升。耕地数量和质量的同步降低引起生产能力下降14%。城市占用农地对耕地质量和生产能力的综合影响应该给予足够的重视。     

Essential oil bearing aromatic plants: Their potential for sequestering carbon in marginal soils of India

Continuous rise in the atmospheric CO₂ concentration upshots the genesis of cataclysmic planetary problems such as global warming and climate change. Another critical issue which is environmentally challenging is land degradation. When productive land is poorly managed, it turns to marginal land. And further degradation of marginal land ends up to being unproductive land. On the Contrary, considerable part of depleted soil C pool can be restored through the adoption of conservation agricultural practices, unproductive land could be converted to marginal land and by its further restoration, into productive land. Aromatic plants can sustain various adverse conditions prevailing on the marginal lands. Aromatic plants require low input but the output is quite high due to the production of highvalue essential oil. The pivotal perspective of utilization of marginal lands of India for the production of aromatic plants would explore factors such as land availability, aromatic plants adaptability, C sequestration potential and economic feasibility. India is the largest exporter of essential oils and produces huge amount of aromatic spent residues, which could be converted into several valueadded products. Proficient recycle of distillation waste of aromatic plants in marginal lands will aid to sequester C in soil and enhance the biomass yield. Improvement in the livelihood of farmers especially in developing nations through rise in production and income diversification would encourage farmers to reclaim their marginal lands and accelerate their transition to aromatically cultivable lands.     

Impacts of historical land use changes on erosion and agricultural soil properties in the Kali Basin at Lake Balaton, Hungary

Historical land use changes may have significant impact on erosion and agricultural soil properties, including soil degradation by acidification, nutrient leaching and organic matter depletion. The Kali Basin study area, a small catchment of high landscape value located in a national park at Lake Balaton, Hungary, with its historical agricultural records, together with the available unique historical land use data for the last 200 years, provides an opportunity to study and model impacts of historical land use changes on erosion and agricultural soil properties. Comparison of long-term land uses with present soil degradation indicator parameters showed that permanent arable land use has led to degradation of both the physical and chemical properties of soils in the Kali Basin. Application of the SEDEM/WATEM distributed erosion and sediment transport model showed that, despite the low overall sediment export from the catchment, land use changes introduced by property ownership and agricultural changes have decreased average soil erosion in the catchment but increased relative sediment export to Lake Balaton. This is due to changes in the land cover pattern that allow more sediment transported to the river system. The overall conclusion of this study is that besides the size and area proportion of land use types, land use pattern seems to be equally important in soil erosion and degradation processes, thus land use pattern is a key factor for landscape planning and development in the Kali Basin. A relationship between the sociological and agro-ecological reasons for the recorded land use changes is also shown in this study.     

Rangeland Use Change to Agriculture Has Different Effects on Soil Organic Matter Fractions Depending on the Type of Cultivation

The agricultural use of natural ecosystem is increasing in the Middle East because of population growth in the most countries. The type of cultivation could affect the content of soil organic matter in the rangeland use changes into agriculture. Therefore, we compared soil organic matter fractions of semi‐arid rangelands with agricultural lands (wheat‐land, pea‐land and orchard) where have been changed from semi‐arid rangelands to agriculture 15 years before. The results showed that in general, total and particulate organic matter (TOM and POM) and total nitrogen (TN) were highest in the rangeland compared with the three‐agricultural lands in intact soil, macro‐aggregates and micro‐aggregates (p < 0·05). Nevertheless, TOM content in orchard (1·45%) was higher than the two other land uses, and there was no significant difference of TN between natural rangeland and orchard in intact soil. The highest values of POM were obtained in the rangeland (0·23%) and orchard (0·22%), and the lowest value of POM was obtained in the pea‐land (0·14%) and wheat‐land (0·08%) in macro‐aggregates. In micro‐aggregates, TOM, POM and TN were highest in the rangeland (1·77%, 0·23% and 0·19%, respectively) and showed similar pattern in the three‐agricultural lands. We discussed that compared with pea‐land and wheat‐land, orchard was received less negative impact on soil qualitative parameters in land use changes projects from rangeland into agriculture. We conclude that orchard could be a better option in rangeland use changes into agriculture compared with the other cultivations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Classifying land cover conversions in coastal wetlands in the Mediterranean: Pairwise comparisons of landsat images

This study classified land cover conversions by using quantitative change detection methods in the eastern Mediterranean coastal wetlands of Turkey. Three Landsat TM scenes acquired in 1984, 1998 and 2007 were analysed using image pairs of consecutive dates. The amounts of change were calculated for the periods from 1984 to 1998 and from 1998 to 2007, using binary change masks and supervised image classifications, in which eleven a priori defined land cover classes were used. Change areas accounted for 14.81 and 15.64 per cent of the total area, in the first and second periods, respectively. Conversions from/to sand dunes, mud flats and afforestation were by far the most extensive changes. Sand dunes and mud flats decreased, while afforestation and agriculture areas increased in the 23‐year period between 1984 and 2007. Five types of qualitative change were identified on the basis of land cover transformations within and between natural and anthropogenic systems. Type I changes, which indicated conversions from (semi)natural to anthropogenic systems, took place as agricultural expansion over coastal sand dunes, while Type II changes mostly occurred within agricultural systems. Type III changes included changes in human uses, leading to conversions from one anthropogenic system to another. Conversions between semi(natural) systems such as salt marshes and mud‐flats were typical Type IV changes. Type V changes were mainly due to conversions from agriculture to wetland categories or other semi(natural) cover types. Implications of these changes were discussed for management of coastal environmental resources. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implications of climate change for tillage practice in Australia

The world is experiencing climate change that in no way can be considered normal, and the challenge that this brings to agriculture is twofold. The first challenge relates to the continuing need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that generate the changes to climate. Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory estimates that agriculture produces about one-quarter of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions (including land clearing). The main gases emitted are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. These gases are derived from high-value components within the agricultural production base, so reducing emissions of greenhouse gases from agriculture has the potential to provide production and financial benefits, as well as greenhouse gas reduction. Methane essentially derives from enteric fermentation in ruminants. Nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide, on the other hand, are strongly influenced, and perhaps even determined by a range of variable soil-based parameters, of which the main ones are moisture, aerobiosis, temperature, amount and form of carbon, organic and inorganic nitrogen, pH, and cation exchange capacity. Tillage has the potential to influence most of these parameters, and hence may be one of the most effective mechanisms to influence rates of emissions of greenhouse gases from Australian agriculture. There have been substantial changes in tillage practice in Australia over the past few decades – with moves away from aggressive tillage techniques to a fewer number of passes using conservative practices. The implications of these changes in tillage for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases from Australian agriculture are discussed.

The second challenge of climate change for Australian agriculture relates to the impacts of climate change on production, and the capacity of agriculture to adapt where it is most vulnerable. Already agriculture is exposed to climate change, and this exposure will be accentuated over the coming decades. The most recent projections for Australia provided by the CSIRO through the Australian Climate Change Science Programme, indicate that southern Australia can expect a trend to drying due to increased temperatures, reduced rainfalls, and increased evaporative potentials. Extremes in weather events are likely also to become more common. We anticipate that climate change will become an additional driver for continued change in tillage practice across Australia, as land managers respond to the impacts of climate change on their production base, and governments undertake a range of activities to address both emissions reduction and the impacts of climate change in agriculture and land management.     

莱州湾地区海水入侵发生的环境背景及对农业水土环境的影响

针对山东省莱州湾地区海水入侵的实际,分析了海水入侵灾害发生的环境背景与条件。结合实地考察和收集资料,探讨了海水入侵对农业水土环境产生的影响,集中表现为海水入侵使水资源恶化,农业灌溉供水源地减少、土地资源退化,土地生产能力下降,农业生产受阻。鉴于此,从农业可持续发展的角度提出实施“开源节流、拦蓄补源”、调整农业结构和发展生态农业是综合防治海水入侵、实现农业可持续发展的重要措施。     

城市化对郑州市土壤功能演变的影响

城市化快速发展不仅造成了自然土壤面积和类型的缩减，也导致土壤功能发生变化并通过土地利用方式的变化表现出来。本文以郑州市为例，通过研究城市扩张和土地利用变化来探讨城市化过程中土壤功能演化特点。研究结果表明：在过去的20年间，随着城市化的发展，土地利用结构发生着剧烈变化，城市建设面积不断扩张，水稻土土类和盐化潮土亚类消失，另外伴随还消失了2个土属和11个土种，一些特定的土壤功能消失；伴随着土地利用变化，土壤主要从生产功能、生态功能向土壤承载功能转换，其次为生态功能向生产功能转化。土壤功能这样的转换不仅增加了区域农业生产压力，也可能对区域生态环境产生不可忽视的影响。     

发展中国家或地区农业发展的土地限制性分析

发展中国家或地区耕地数量和农业用地质量变化是影响农业可持续发展和粮食安全的重要因素之一。分析发展中国家或地区1993-2002年耕地数量变动．结果表明耕地总量波动但人均耕地数量减少．从区域农业自然条件禀赋差异、耕地退化弃耕与可耕地用途改变、人口数量与人口增长等方面分析耕地数量变动的原因；利用1990～2004年的人口变动资料建立二次曲线模型，预测2010年和2025年人口数量并讨论其对耕地的压力。综述发展中国家或地区农业用地质量限制性的现状，分析边地耕作、风蚀与水蚀、化学与物理性因素、有机物投入、信用限制与灌溉面积比重等因素对农业用地质量的限制以及农业用地质量退化对农业的影响。最后讨论发展中国家或地区加强农业用地管理以应对耕地数量和农业用地质量限制问题。     

Observing Changes in Riparian Buffer Strip Soil Properties Related to Land Use Activities in the River Njoro Watershed, Kenya

Riparian buffer strip guidelines are under scrutiny in the River Njoro Watershed in Kenya. This study investigated soil properties (bulk density, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus) in different land use types (small scale agriculture in recent settlements, mixed agriculture in established peri-urban settlements, large-scale commercial agriculture, and the gazetted forest reference condition) and their adjacent buffer strips. Bulk density, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus within 30-m riparian buffer strips adjacent to recent settlement land use areas were similar to those of the gazetted forest reference condition, but only bulk density of the buffer strips adjacent to peri-urban and commercial agriculture land use areas were similar to the gazetted forest reference condition. Phosphorus is a sensitive indicator of the impacts of human activity, as increased concentrations were observed with increasing scale of land use activity. For riparian buffers adjacent to recent settlements, soil phosphorus was significantly higher in buffers narrower than 30?m (5.01?mg?P?kg^?1) than gazetted forest (3.40?mg?P?kg^?1) but not significantly different for riparian buffers wider than 30?m (3.81?mg?P?kg^?1) compared to gazetted forest. Based on the research, it is recommended that policies governing riparian buffer strips become (1) stricter, with the current ??maximum?? of 30?m considered a minimum; and (2) adaptive, with 30?m used in small-scale agricultural areas, and wider riparian buffer strips used in medium- and large-scale agricultural areas.     

Characterization of Degraded Soils in the Humid Ethiopian Highlands

Hardpan is a major cause of land degradation that affects agricultural productivity in developing countries. However, relatively, little is known about the interaction of land degradation and hardpans. The objective of this study was, therefore, to investigate soil degradation and the formation of hardpans in crop/livestock‐mixed rainfed agriculture systems and to assess how changes in soil properties are related to the conversion of land from forest to agriculture. Two watersheds (Anjeni and Debre Mewi) were selected in the humid Ethiopian highlands. For both watersheds, 0–45 cm soil penetration resistance (SPR, n  = 180) and soil physical properties (particle size, soil organic matter, pH, base ions, cation exchange capacity, silica content, bulk density and moisture content) were determined at 15 cm depth increments for three land uses: cultivated, pasture and forest. SPR of agricultural fields was significantly greater than that of forest lands. Dense layers with a critical SPR threshold of ≥2000 kPa were observed in the cultivated and pasture lands starting at a depth of 15–30 cm but did not occur in the undisturbed forest land. Compared with the original forest soils, agricultural fields were lower in organic matter, cation exchange capacity, and exchangeable base cations; more acidic; had a higher bulk density and more fine particles (clay and silt); and contained less soluble silica. Overall, our findings suggest that soil physical and chemical properties in agricultural lands are deteriorated, causing disintegration of soil aggregates, resulting in greater sediment concentration in infiltration water that clogged up macro‐pores, thereby disconnecting deep flow paths found in original forest soils. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE BY IMPROVING WATER PRODUCTIVITY OF SOILS IN DRY AREAS

Considering extreme events of climate change and declining availability of appropriate quality water and/or highly productive soil resources for agriculture in dryland regions, the need to produce more food, forage and fibre will necessitate the effective utilization of marginal‐quality water and soil resources. Recent research and practices have demonstrated that effective utilization of these natural resources in dry areas can improve agricultural productivity per unit area and per unit water applied. This paper focuses on the following three case studies as examples: (1) low productivity soils affected by high levels of magnesium in soil solution and on the cation exchange complex; (2) degraded sandy soils under rainfed conditions characterized by low water‐holding capacity, organic matter and clay content and (3) abandoned irrigated soils with elevated levels of salts inhibiting growth of income generating crops. The results of these studies demonstrate that application of calcium‐supplying phosphogypsum to high‐magnesium soils, addition of clays to light textured degraded soils and phytoremediation of abandoned salt‐affected soils significantly improved productivity of these soils. Furthermore, under most circumstances, these interventions were economically viable, revealing that the efficient use of marginal‐quality water and soil resources has the potential to improve livelihoods amid growing populations in dry areas while reversing the natural resource degradation trend. However, considerably more investment and policy‐level interventions are needed to tackle soil degradation/remediation issues across both irrigated and dryland agricultural environments if the major challenge of producing enough food, forage and fibre is to be met. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contrasted Impact of Land Abandonment on Soil Erosion in Mediterranean Agriculture Fields

Abandonment of agricultural land results in on-and off-site consequences for the ecosystem. In this study, 105 rainfall simulations were carried out in agriculture lands of the Mediterranean belt in Spain(vineyards in Málaga, almond orchards in Murcia, and orange and olive orchards in Valencia) and in paired abandoned lands to assess the impact of land abandonment on soil and water losses. After abandonment, soil detachment decreased drastically in the olive and orange orchards, while vineyards did not show any difference and almond orchards registered higher erosion rates after the abandonment. Terraced orchards of oranges and olives recovered a dense vegetation cover after the abandonment, while the sloping terrain of almond orchards and vineyards enhanced the development of crusts and rills and a negligible vegetation cover resulted in high erosion rates. The contrasted responses to land abandonment in Mediterranean agricultural lands suggest that land abandonment should be programmed and managed with soil erosion control strategies for some years to avoid land degradation.     

大渡河上游生计方式的时空格局与土地利用/覆被变化

该文以大渡河上游壤塘县、马尔康县和金川县为例,在野外考察、农户调查、历史资料分析的基础上,利用遥感、地理信息系统等多种手段,研究了该区1950～2000年生计方式的时空格局和1967～2000年的土地利用/覆被变化过程。结果表明：在河谷区、中山区、林区和牧区,居民生计方式的演变具有不同的特点。随着生计方式的演变,大渡河上游具有多样的土地利用/覆被变化过程。1980年代以后,该区不同地带劳动力向二三产业的转移具有显著的差异,居民对环境退化具有不同的响应方式。该研究还表明,生态脆弱区社会经济发展和生态重建的关键在于改变居民的生计方式,促进劳动力向二三产业转移。     

RD—Rural Development: An Engineering Perspective on Sustainable Smallholder Farming in Developing Countries

The low productivity of smallholder farming systems and enterprises is attributed mainly to the limited resources of farming households and to the application of inappropriate skills and practices that can lead to land degradation. Land productivity may be raised by improved soil and water management and by mechanization (considering the whole spectrum of power sources) that makes better use of human labour and other resources. However, mechanization programmes, which facilitate soil and water management, have to consider cultural and social factors as well as the immediate technical and economic issues. The livelihoods approach provides a framework for dealing with such considerations, which can be elicited through the participation of farmers in the research and development activities.Examples are given of participatory research (i.e. research in which scientists and farmers participate as partners) to raise smallholder productivity sustainably in India, Zimbabwe and Latin America. Sustainability is a key issue for economic security in the longer term, and depends on many interacting factors both within and outside the tasks of crop production. The most significant of these factors are discussed and it is emphasized that involving farmers provides a reliable means of accounting for them and enabling the farmers to apply new knowledge to raise productivity, but within the contexts of their own livelihood strategies.     

农牧交错带土地利用的土壤侵蚀状况分析

土地是人类赖以生存的根本。土壤侵蚀会导致土地资源的退化，造成环境恶化。农牧交错带是我国一个独特的地理景观，对它的研究在生态、区域发展上有重要意义。在定义土壤侵蚀指数的基础上．以土地资源类型为单元，以遥感与GIS为技术支撑，分析不同土地资源类型下土壤侵蚀类型与强度．阐明土地资源的土壤侵蚀背景，揭示出两之间的关系，并作了区域上的分析。结果认为在我国农牧交错带的东部草地退化，西部沙化严重，亟需治理。