Offsetting global CO2 emissions by restoration of degraded soils and intensification of world agriculture and forestry

Increase in atmospheric concentration of CO₂ from 285 parts per million by volume (ppmv) in 1850 to 370 ppm in 2000 is attributed to emissions of 270 ± 30 Pg carbon (C) from fossil fuel combustion and 136 ± 55 Pg C by land‐use change. Present levels of anthropogenic emissions involve 6·3 Pg C by fossil fuel emissions and 1·8 Pg C by land‐use change. Out of the historic loss of terrestrial C pool of 136 ± 55 Pg, 78 ± 12 Pg is due to depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC) pool comprising 26 ± 9 Pg due to accelerated soil erosion. A large proportion of the historic SOC lost can be resequestered by enhancing the SOC pool through converting to an appropriate land use and adopting recommended management practices (RMPs). The strategy is to return biomass to the soil in excess of the mineralization capacity through restoration of degraded/desertified soils and intensification of agricultural and forestry lands. Technological options for agricultural intensification include conservation tillage and residue mulching, integrated nutrient management, crop rotations involving cover crops, practices which enhance the efficiency of water, plant nutrients and energy use, improved pasture and tree species, controlled grazing, and judicious use of inptus. The potential of SOC sequestration is estimated at 1–2 Pg C yr⁻¹ for the world, 0·3–0·6 Pg C yr⁻¹ for Asia, 0·2–0·5 Pg C yr⁻¹ for Africa and 0·1–0·3 Pg C yr⁻¹ for North and Central America and South America, 0·1–0·3 Pg C yr⁻¹ for Europe and 0·1–0·2 Pg C yr⁻¹ for Oceania. Soil C sequestration is a win–win strategy; it enhances productivity, improves environment moderation capacity, and mitigates global warming. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

发展碳汇林业 应对气候变化——中国碳汇林业的实践与管理

 在阐述林业在应对气候变化中的功能与作用,辨析森林碳汇、林业碳汇、碳汇林业的概念和意义的基础上,总结中国碳汇林业的实践。据此,提出加强碳汇林业管理的建议:以实施《应对气候变化林业行动计划》为主线,加强全国森林碳汇计量、监测体系建设和碳汇项目计量队伍资质管理,促进低碳经济林业试点工作。     

Global forest systems: An uncertain response to atmospheric pollutants and global climate change?

Forest systems cover more than 4.1×10⁹ ha of the Earth's land area. The future response and feedbacks of forest systems to atmospheric pollutants and projected climate change may be significant. Boreal, temperate and tropical forest systems play a prominent role in carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) biogeochemical cycles at regional and global scales. The timing and magnitude of future changes in forest systems will depend on environmental factors such as a changing global climate, an accumulation of CO₂ in the atmosphere, and increase global mineralization of nutrients such as N and S. The interactive effects of all these factors on the world's forest regions are complex and not intuitively obvious and are likely to differ among geographic regions. Although the potential effects of some atmospheric pollutants on forest systems have been observed or simulated, large uncertainty exists in our ability to project future forest distribution, composition and productivity under transient or nontransient global climate change scenarios. The potential to manage and adapt forests to future global environmental conditions varies widely among nations. Mitigation practices, such as liming or fertilization to ameliorate excess NO_x or SO_x or forest management to sequester CO₂ are now being applied in selected nations worldwide.The U.S. Government's right to a non-exclusive, royalty free licence in and to any copyright is acknowledged.     

Impacts of straw biochar additions on agricultural soil quality and greenhouse gas fluxes in karst area,Southwest China

Understanding and improving environmental quality by reducing soil nutrient leaching losses, sequestering carbon (C), reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and enhancing crop productivity in highly weathered or degraded soils have always been the goals of agroecosystem researchers and producers. Biochar production and soil incorporation strategies have been recently proposed to help attain these goals. However, the effect of such approaches on soil GHG fluxes is highly uncertain and needs to be further assessed before biochar can be used on a large scale. In addition, the duration of these GHG reductions is not known and is of pivotal importance for the inclusion of biochar in climate abatement strategies. In a field trial cultivated with Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris ssp. pekinensis) and radish (Daucus carota L. var. Sativa Hoffm), rapeseed (Brassica campestris L.) and maize (Zea mays L.) straw-derived biochar was added to the soil at rates of 0, 26, 64 and 128 t ha^?1, in the whole growing season (October 2011–March 2012) to monitor the effect of treatments on soil GHG production/consumption and soil quality 16 months after biochar addition. The results showed that biochar amendment increased soil pH, nitrate nitrogen content, available phosphorus content and soil water content, but decreased soil bulk density. In biochar-treated plots, soil carbon dioxide (CO₂) fluxes were from 20.1 to 87.0% higher than in the control. Soil methane (CH₄) uptakes were increased significantly, by 33.2 and 80.1%, between the biochar amendment at the rate of 64 and 128 t ha^?1 and the control. Soil nitrous oxide (N₂O) fluxes showed no significant difference between biochar amendment and the control. Overall only the CH₄ uptake-promoting effect continued into the long term, 16 months after biochar incorporation. This study demonstrates that the beneficial effects of biochar addition might first come through soil quality improvement and carbon sequestration, rather than through effects on the repression of soil C mineralization or the nitrogen cycle.     

Impact of Land Use and Land Cover Changes on Organic Carbon Stocks in Mediterranean Soils (1956–2007)

During the last few decades, land use changes have largely affected the global warming process through emissions of CO₂. However, C sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems could contribute to the decrease of atmospheric CO₂ rates. Although Mediterranean areas show a high potential for C sequestration, only a few studies have been carried out in these systems. In this study, we propose a methodology to assess the impact of land use and land cover change dynamics on soil organic C stocks at different depths. Soil C sequestration rates are provided for different land cover changes and soil types in Andalusia (southern Spain). Our research is based on the analysis of detailed soil databases containing data from 1357 soil profiles, the Soil Map of Andalusia and the Land Use and Land Cover Map of Andalusia. Land use and land cover changes between 1956 and 2007 implied soil organic C losses in all soil groups, resulting in a total loss of 16·8 Tg (approximately 0·33 Tg y⁻¹). Afforestation increased soil organic C mostly in the topsoil, and forest contributed to sequestration of 8·62 Mg ha⁻¹ of soil organic C (25·4 per cent). Deforestation processes implied important C losses, particularly in Cambisols, Luvisols and Vertisols. The information generated in this study will be a useful basis for designing management strategies for stabilizing the increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations by preservation of C stocks and C sequestration. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monitoring and verification of soil carbon changes under Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol

Abstract. The Marrakech Accords allow biospheric carbon sinks and sources to be included in attempts to meet emission reduction targets for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. Forest management, cropland management, grazing land management and re-vegetation are allowable activities under Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol. Soil carbon sinks and sources can therefore be included under these activities. The Kyoto Protocol states that sinks and sources of carbon should be accounted for 'taking into account uncertainties, transparency in reporting, verifiability'. At its most stringent, verifiability would entail the sampling of each geo-referenced piece of land subject to an Article 3.4 activity at the beginning and end of a commitment period, using a sampling regime that gives adequate statistical power. Soil and vegetation samples and records would be archived and the data from each piece of land aggregated to produce a national figure. Separate methods would be required to deliver a second set of independent verification data. Such an undertaking at the national level would be prohibitively expensive. At its least stringent, verifiability would entail the reporting of areas under a given practice (without geo-referencing) and the use of default values for a carbon stock change for each practice, to infer a change for all areas under that practice. A definition of verifiability between these extremes would allow simple methods, such as those derived from IPCC default values for CO₂ fluxes from soil, to be used for estimating changes in soil carbon. These may enable low-level verifiability to be achieved by most parties by the beginning of the first commitment period (2008–2012).     

基于进化遗传优化的自适应神经模糊推理新系统与地理信息系统的非洲山地土壤有机碳储量估算和绘图

Soil organic carbon (SOC) pool has the potential to mitigate or enhance climate change by either acting as a sink,or a source of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and also plays a fundamental role in the health and proper functioning of soils to sustain life on Earth.As such,the objective of this study was to investigate the applicability of a novel evolutionary genetic optimization-based adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS-EG) in predicting and mapping the spatial patterns of SOC stocks in the Eastern Mau Forest Reserve,Kenya.Field measurements and auxiliary data reflecting the soil-forming factors were used to design an ANFIS-EG model,which was then implemented to predict and map the areal differentiation of SOC stocks in the Eastern Mau Forest Reserve.This was achieved with a reasonable level of uncertainty (i.e.,root mean square error of 15.07 Mg C ha-1),hence demonstrating the applicability of the ANFIS-EG in SOC mapping studies.There is potential for improving the model performance,as indicated by the current ratio of performance to deviation (1.6).The mnapping also revealed marginally higher SOC stocks in the forested ecosystems (i.e.,an average of 109.78 Mg C ha-1) than in the agro-ecosystems (i.e.,an average of 95.9 Mg C ha-1).     

Re‐evaluating the biophysical and technologically attainable potential of topsoil carbon sequestration in China's cropland

To assess the topsoil carbon sequestration potential (CSP) of China's cropland, two different estimates were made: (i) a biophysical potential (BP) using a saturation limit approach based on soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation dynamics and a storage restoration approach from the cultivation‐induced SOC loss, and (ii) a technically attainable potential (TAP) with a scenario estimation approach using SOC increases under best management practices (BMPs) in agriculture. Thus, the BP is projected to be the gap in recent SOC storage to either the saturation capacity or to the SOC storage of uncultivated soil, while the TAP is the overall increase over the current SOC storage that could be achieved with the extension of BMPs. The recent mean SOC density of China's cropland was estimated to be 36.44 t/ha, with a BP estimate of 2.21 Pg C by a saturation approach and 2.95 Pg C by the storage restoration method. An overall TAP of 0.62 Pg C and 0.98 Pg C was predicted for conservation tillage plus straw return and recommended fertilizer applications, respectively. This TAP is comparable to 40–60% of total CO₂ emissions from Chinese energy production in 2007. Therefore, carbon sequestration in China's cropland is recommended for enhancing China's mitigation capacity for climate change. However, priority should be given to the vast dry cropland areas of China, as the CSP of China is based predominantly on the dry cropland.     

农田土壤有机碳固定机制及其影响因子研究进展

全球气候变暖引起的环境问题已经引起各国政府及科学家的密切关注。农田土壤作为大气CO2的源和库,在全球碳循环中的重要角色日渐被认识。本文围绕土壤固碳的基本问题,总结了农田土壤固碳潜力、土壤有机碳固定机制及其影响因素的国内外研究进展。国内研究表明,目前耕地的地力不稳,土壤有机碳密度较低,农田土壤固碳的潜力较大。因此,加强不同区域农田土壤固碳潜力、固碳过程、固碳机理等方面的研究,设计合理优化的农业管理措施,是今后研究的重点。     

A fungal substance of selective action on plant growth produced by Pyrenochaeta sp.

The effect of the pink substance extracted from mycelia of Pyrenochaela sp. on growth of 10 kinds of plants was examined by germination test in the light. The substance inhibited the growth of germinating seedlings of 5 monocotyledonous plants (upland rice, sorghum, wheat, barley, and oat) at a concentration higher than 10 ppm of the partially purified pink substance, while it rather stimulated that of 5 dicotyledonous plants (chinese cabbage, cucumber, radish, turnip, and burdock) at 10-100 ppm. When the substance was sprayed on shoots of upland rice and Chinese cabbage germinated in pot, it inhibited the growth of seedlings of the former and stimulated that of the latter.     

南京地区大棚蔬菜生产的碳足迹调查分析

通过对南京郊区5种夏季大棚设施蔬菜生态系统的物质和管理投入进行现场问卷调查,分析估算了不同设施蔬菜各个生产环节投入的碳成本以及碳排放强度等。结果表明,不同设施蔬菜单季单位面积碳成本介于（867．1±240．6）-（2039．4±1163.3）kgCE·hm^-2,物质投入碳成本在整个生产投入中占极其重要的份额,其中肥料投入的碳排放最大,占总碳成本的57．96％～82．37％,而农膜投入占11．97％～29．25％;不同设施蔬菜单位面积碳排放、单位产量碳排放及单位产值碳排放存在差异显著。综上,减少生产过程碳排放尤其是物质投入碳排放、提高施肥效益增加蔬菜产量、因地制宜选择蔬菜种植品种是促进蔬菜生产温室气体减排的重要途径。     

Agroforestry as a strategy for carbon sequestration

During the past three decades, agroforestry has become recognized the world over as an integrated approach to sustainable land use because of its production and environmental benefits. Its recent recognition as a greenhouse gas–mitigation strategy under the Kyoto Protocol has earned it added attention as a strategy for biological carbon (C) sequestration. The perceived potential is based on the premise that the greater efficiency of integrated systems in resource (nutrients, light, and water) capture and utilization than single‐species systems will result in greater net C sequestration. Available estimates of C‐sequestration potential of agroforestry systems are derived by combining information on the aboveground, time‐averaged C stocks and the soil C values; but they are generally not rigorous. Methodological difficulties in estimating C stock of biomass and the extent of soil C storage under varying conditions are compounded by the lack of reliable estimates of area under agroforestry. We estimate that the area currently under agroforestry worldwide is 1,023 million ha. Additionally, substantial extent of areas of unproductive crop, grass, and forest lands as well as degraded lands could be brought under agroforestry. The extent of C sequestered in any agroforestry system will depend on a number of site‐specific biological, climatic, soil, and management factors. Furthermore, the profitability of C‐sequestration projects will depend on the price of C in the international market, additional income from the sale of products such as timber, and the cost related to C monitoring. Our knowledge on these issues is unfortunately rudimentary. Until such difficulties are surmounted, the low‐cost environmental benefit of agroforestry will continue to be underappreciated and underexploited.     

Land Use and Soil Organic Carbon in China’s Village Landscapes

Village landscapes, which integrate small-scale agriculture with housing, forestry, and a host of other land use practices, cover more than 2 million square kilometers across China. Village lands tend to be managed at very fine spatial scales (≤ 30 m), with managers both adapting their practices to existing variation in soils and terrain (e.g., fertile plains vs. infertile slopes) and also altering soil fertility and even terrain by terracing, irrigation, fertilizing, and other land use practices. Relationships between fine-scale land management patterns and soil organic carbon (SOC) in the top 30 cm of village soils were studied by sampling soils within fine-scale landscape features using a regionally weighted landscape sampling design across five environmentally distinct sites in China. SOC stocks across China’s village regions (5 Pg C in the top 30 cm of 2 × 10 6 km 2 ) represent roughly 4% of the total SOC stocks in global croplands. Although macroclimate varied from temperate to tropical in this study, SOC density did not vary significantly with climate, though it was negatively correlated with regional mean elevation. The highest SOC densities within landscapes were found in agricultural lands, especially paddy, the lowest SOC densities were found in nonproductive lands, and forest lands tended toward moderate SOC densities. Due to the high SOC densities of agricultural lands and their predominance in village landscapes, most village SOC was found in agricultural land, except in the tropical hilly region, where forestry accounted for about 45% of the SOC stocks. A surprisingly large portion of village SOC was associated with built structures and with the disturbed lands surrounding these structures, ranging from 18% in the North China Plain to about 9% in the tropical hilly region. These results confirmed that local land use practices, combined with local and regional variation in terrain, were associated with most of the SOC variation within and across China’s village landscapes and may be an important cause of regional variation in SOC.     

秸秆生物黑炭农业应用的固碳减排计量方法学探讨

秸秆或生活垃圾热裂解转化生物黑炭的产业化技术已经成熟,生物黑炭固碳减排方法学是进行自主碳交易的必备技术依据。基于河南三利新能源有限公司生物黑炭的生产工艺,对秸秆燃烧（基线）和转化生物黑炭以及农业应用（项目）整个系统全生命周期的温室气体的排放量和碳汇清除量进行了评价。采用该方法学,对已经进行的秸秆生物质黑炭的生产和稻田施用的总效应初步估计为秸秆产生净碳汇249-398kgCO2-e·t^-1。可以看出秸秆生物黑炭具有显著的固碳减排效果。