Biochar has multiple potential environmental benefits, foremost the potential to sequester carbon in the soil for hundreds to thousands of years at an estimate. Studies suggest that crop yields can increase as a result of applying biochar as a soil amendment. Some contend that biochar has value as an immediate climate change mitigation strategy. Scientific experiments suggest that greenhouse gas emissions are reduced significantly with biochar application to crop fields. Obstacles that may stall rapid adoption of biochar production systems include technology costs, system operation and maintenance, feedstock availability, and biochar handling. Biochar research and development is in its infancy. Nevertheless, interest in biochar as a multifaceted solution to agricultural and natural resource issues is growing at a rapid pace both nationally and internationally.

via Environmental Legislation: Biochar: Examination of an Emerging Concept to Mitigate Climate Change.

Should agriculture be on the agenda of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009? This no longer seems to be the question but the demand from the African Civil Society movements.

It is argued that if fundamental climate change mitigation and adaptation goals are to be met, international climate deal or treaty if you may must include agriculture.

Why is agriculture all of a sudden becoming a key contested area in the climate change discussions? For Africa, it is quite clear the majority population relies on agriculture and natural systems for production and  climate change is bound to impact them disproportionately compared to those who have other means of “securing production” under controlled environments.

So poor farmers farmers in Africa “with or without their consent have become a bargaining chip”- they need support and help to adapt to climate change.  Now, most people will stop there even the most educated in this new emerging hot bed of money and politics. Simply put, how does one help these poor farmers adapt to climate change?

How many solutions or practical measures have been tabled on how “that help” will be formulated?

Anila, the smokeless stove that uses agro-waste to burn and makes charcoal as a by-product. Photo/CORRESPONDENT

While carbon dioxide may be the No. 1 contributor to rising global temperatures, scientists say, black carbon has emerged as an important No. 2, with recent studies estimating that it is responsible for 18 percent of the planet’s warming, compared with 40 percent for carbon dioxide. Decreasing black carbon emissions would be a relatively cheap way to significantly rein in global warming — especially in the short term, climate experts say. Replacing primitive cooking stoves with modern versions that emit far less soot could provide a much-needed stopgap, while nations struggle with the more difficult task of enacting programs and developing technologies to curb carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel.

By Degrees – Third-World Stove Soot Is Target in Climate Fight – Series – NYTimes.com.

But the awareness of black carbon’s role in climate change has come so recently that it was not even mentioned as a warming agent in the 2007 summary report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that pronounced the evidence for global warming to be “unequivocal.” Mark Z. Jacobson, professor of environmental engineering at Stanford, said that the fact that black carbon was not included in international climate efforts was “bizarre,” but “partly reflects how new the idea is.” The United Nations is trying to figure out how to include black carbon in climate change programs, as is the federal government.

The Anila stove offers a crucial technology – for converting biomass to char at a household level. This design has been- provided courtesy Folke Gunther.
Biochar puts emphasis on photosynthesis as a solution to climate change and not technology.

The design/illustration here shows how to build the stove.

The completed unit.

The dimensions: