[Terrapreta] FAO recognizes importance of C-sequestration in soils at high-level conference

[Laurens Rademakers]

As you know, the FAO has been holding preparatory meetings (January - April) for the big upcoming 
"High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy" (3-5 June) (Dubbed the "food versus fuel" summit).

It is at these meetings and at the conference that world leaders, the international community, climate experts, agronomists, etc... will be discussing the fate of biofuels, food, deforestation, agricultural policy and climate change.

http://www.fao.org/foodclimate/hlc-home/en/

This conference will have an authoritative impact on any debate about the future of the global agricultural landscape. 

In one of the conference documents arising out of the preparatory consultations and meetings (list of docs: http://www.fao.org/foodclimate/conference/doclist/en/?no_cache=1 ), experts stress that agriculture must become part of frameworks to reduce emissions (post-Kyoto) and that agriculture can play a key role in carbon sequestration. 

The text: CLIMATE CHANGE, BIOENERGY AND FOOD SECURITY: OPTIONS FOR DECISION MAKERS IDENTIFIED BY EXPERT MEETINGS, has a chapter on agriculture's role in carbon sequestration.

http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/foodclimate/HLCdocs/HLC08-inf-5-E.pdf

Sadly, it doesn't refer to biochar/agrichar/terra preta by name, but it does contain the passage we like to read (see section 8) (it's basically a repetition of the IPCC's general acknowledgement of the importance of C sequestration in soils):


C. MITIGATION: NEW OPTIONS FOR CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN
AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY

6. Agriculture and land-use change such as deforestation contributes to, respectively, 13 and
17 percent of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While carbon dioxide
emissions from agriculture are small, the sector accounts for about 60 percent of all nitrous oxide
(N2O, mainly from fertiliser use) and about 50 percent of methane (CH4, emitted, mainly from
natural and cultivated wetlands and enteric fermentation). The GHG impact through radiative
forcing of N2O is 300 times that of CO2. Methane and nitrous oxide emissions are projected to
further increase by 35 to 60 percent by 2030, driven by growing nitrogen fertilizer use and
increased livestock production in response to growing food demand.

7. Mitigation of climate change is a global responsibility. Agriculture, forestry,
fisheries/aquaculture provide, in principle, a significant potential for GHG mitigation. The IPCC
estimates that the global technical mitigation potential for agriculture (excluding forestry) will be
between 5 500 and 6 000 Mt CO2-equivalent per year by 2030, 89 percent of which are assumed
to be from carbon sequestration in soils.

8. Global Soil Carbon Sequestration Initiative. IPCC estimates that the reduction of
agricultural GHG mitigation options are cost-competitive with non-agricultural options for
achieving long-term climate objectives. Soil carbon sequestration could in fact take effect very
quickly and is very cost-effective in agriculture. A win-win approach could be achieved by paying
farmers for carbon sequestration (building soil organic matter) which sets up a scenario where:
CO2 is removed from the atmosphere (mitigation); higher organic matter levels in soil increase
agroecosystem resilience (adaptation); and improved soil fertility leads to better yields
(production and income generation). However, sequestration of CO2 in soils is not included in the
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) agreed to in Kyoto. The scope of the successor of the
CDM could be enhanced with a view to increase carbon sinks in soil and in above- and belowground
biomass, and thus contribute to removing methodological barriers to operationalising soil
carbon sequestration under the Post-2012 climate change regime. FAO should play a leading role
in this process, including through the establishment of a Global Soil Carbon Sequestration
Initiative entrusted with the promotion of agricultural technologies that restore carbon pools and
soil quality (e.g. organic agriculture, conservation agriculture) and to create tools to measure,
monitor and verify soil carbon pools and fluxes of greenhouse gas emissions (namely nitrous
oxide) from agricultural soils, including croplands and pastures.

9. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing countries
(REDD). Since the Eleventh Session of its Conference of Parties (COP) in November 2005,
UNFCCC has been exploring the possibility of developing an instrument under the Convention to
provide financial incentives for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in
developing countries (REDD). As the UN agency with the mandate for forestry and a
comprehensive programme covering all aspects of forestry as well as agriculture, FAO can play a
leading role in: providing technical information and support for the development of
methodological and policy options for REDD; strengthening capacity for countries undertaking
REDD programmes, including developing systems for monitoring changes in forest carbon; and
addressing underlying causes of deforestation and forest degradation rooted in both the agriculture

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So it seems like there's growing recognition for the need to include carbon sequestration in soils in a post-Kyoto framework. It would have been nice if the authors had referred to biochar as one of the most robust ways of sequestering carbon, but in any case, the concept has now been firmly included in this key text.

http://www.fao.org/foodclimate/conference/doclist/en/?no_cache=1

If you have some time, also check out the other documents as they're highly relevant to the broader context in which terra preta finds itself.

Cheers, Lorenzo
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