[Terrapreta] Biochar at Bali

[tmiles at pop.easystreet.com]

UNCCD: Sustainable land management for adaptation to climate change
Presented by the UNCCD
	
A brief report on the UNCCD side event that featured the biochar
presentations at Bali can be found at: 

http://www.iisd.ca/climate/cop13/enbots/13dec.html

Hopefully the presentations will be available soon at the UNCCD website or
from the authors.  

Excerpt:

"Goodspeed Kopolo, UNCCD Secretariat, presented on the potential role of
biochar, a type of charcoal produced from biomass, to enhance sustainable
land management and sequester carbon. He listed benefits of biochar as a
carbon sink under the CDM, noting that additionality and permanence of
sequestration are assured, and the baseline is simple. He described actions
required for biochar to be recognized under the CDM, namely: revision of
the additionality test and of LULUCF rules to include biochar; and the
engagement of all stakeholders to ensure its inclusion in a post-2012
climate regime.

Wolfgang Zech, Bayreuth University, Germany, emphasized that land
degradation affects all continents. He described the positive effects that
charcoal, used in conjunction with mineral fertilizers, can have on
improving soil organic matter and land productivity, and sequestering
carbon.

Christoph Steiner, University of Georgia, US, stressed that use of charcoal
as a soil amendment is not new. He highlighted research and development
into the production of biochar as a by-product of gasification, with
simultaneous sustainable land management and carbon sequestration benefits.
He noted that a CDM market could make biochar widely available.

Participants discussed strategies for ensuring inclusion of biochar within
the CDM in a post-2012 regime." 

More information
http://www.unccd.int

Contacts
Goodspeed Kopolo <gkopolo at unccd.int>
Wolfgang Zech <w.zech at uni-bayreuth.de>
Christoph Steiner <csteiner at engr.uga.edu>

Tom


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