In sub-Saharan Africa, soil carbon has been so depleted that it harms food production and is expected to worsen as a consequence of global warming, Gore said.

Soils can hold carbon for thousands of years when dead leaves, crop residue and other vegetation combine chemically with existing soil particles instead of rotting fully. More carbon is held in this way than in trees and other vegetation.

But agricultural techniques such as heavy plowing, the use of too much fertilizer, and the discarding of the practice of rotating crops have led to the depletion of soils and the carbon in them in many countries.

Gore said polluters and investors in rich countries could potentially help invest in projects promoting new and improved agricultural methods that retain carbon, such as no-till farming, in developing countries through carbon credits.

via Storing CO2 in soil should be on U.N. agenda: Gore | Green Business | Reuters.

In sub-Saharan Africa, soil carbon has been so depleted that it harms food production and is expected to worsen as a consequence of global warming, Gore said.

Soils can hold carbon for thousands of years when dead leaves, crop residue and other vegetation combine chemically with existing soil particles instead of rotting fully. More carbon is held in this way than in trees and other vegetation.

But agricultural techniques such as heavy plowing, the use of too much fertilizer, and the discarding of the practice of rotating crops have led to the depletion of soils and the carbon in them in many countries.

Gore said polluters and investors in rich countries could potentially help invest in projects promoting new and improved agricultural methods that retain carbon, such as no-till farming, in developing countries through carbon credits.

via Storing CO2 in soil should be on U.N. agenda: Gore | Green Business | Reuters.

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

Some facts about carbon!

- Low carbon in the soils leads to depleted organic carbon (OC) -

-Low OC means poor soils

-Poor soils means “food insecurity”

-Africa soils are “Carbon” deficient due to many factors- including the burning of material to “ASH”

Mamadou Doumbia1, Ansumana Jarju2, Modou Sène3, Kalifa Traoré1, Russell Yost4, Richard Kablan4, Kevin Brannan5, Abou Berthe1, Charles Yamoah4, Antonio Querido4, Pierre C.S. Traoré6 and Abdou Ballo1

1 Institut d’Économie Rurale, Bamako, Mali, Laboratoire Sol-Eau-Plante, BP 262, Bamako, Mali
2 National Agricultural Research Institute, Private Mail Bag 526, Serrekunda, The Gambia
3 Centre d’Étude Régional pour Amélioration de l’Adaptation à la Sécheresse, BP 3320, Thiès, Senegal
4 University of Hawaii at Manoa, 3190 Maile Way, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA
5 Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Biological Systems Engineering, 307 Seitz Hall, Blacksburg, VA, 24061-0303, USA
6 ICRISAT/Bamako, Laboratoire Sol-Eau-Plante, BP 262, Bamako, Mali

Accepted 19 June 2008 ; published online 25 September 2008

Abstract – A recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) report concludes that global warming, while already a global crisis, is likely to become even more devastating. The scientific consensus is that global warming is caused by increases in greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide. The Sahel of West Africa seems to be more adversely affected by such climate changes, leading to reduced and more sporadic rainfall. In addition, food security in the region is tenuous and fragile, due to adverse climate change, but also due to the historical mining of nutrients and carbon. With the adoption of the Kyoto accords, at least by some countries, sequestered carbon (C) has become a tradable commodity. This provides a double incentive to increase soil organic carbon in the C-depleted and degraded soils of West Africa – return C to improve soil quality and assist in removing CO2 from the atmosphere to assist in mitigating climate change. A challenge, however, remains to determine which agricultural systems can actually sequester C. The technology called Aménagement en courbes de niveau (ACN), which can be roughly translated as `Ridge-tillage’, has given crop yield increases of 30 to 50%. To date, there has only been anecdotal evidence suggesting that Aménagement en courbes de niveau leads to increased soil organic C. The objectives of the study reported here were to determine whether the technology has the potential to sequester C in West African soils, and, if so, how much. In this study, soil organic C was measured by combustion methods in soils sampled at 0–20 and 20–40 cm depths in a series of experiments in Mali, Senegal and The Gambia. Soil organic C was measured in three very different types of experiments, all including Aménagement en courbes de niveau technology, resulting in three methods of measuring C sequestration. Our results indicate that the Aménagement en courbes de niveau technology significantly increased maize yields by 24% by weight in the Gambia experiment while soil organic C was increased by 26% in The Gambia, by 12% in Siguidolo, Mali, and by 14% in peanut systems of Nioro, Senegal. These increases in soil organic C are likely due to three factors: (1) reduced erosion and movement of soil, (2) increased crop growth resulting from the greater capture of rainfall, and (3) increased growth and density of shrubs and trees resulting from the increased subsoil water, resulting in turn from the increased capture of rainfall, and reduced runoff. Measuring soil C on fields that were successively placed under Aménagement en courbes de niveau management and the use of replicated experimental plots appear to be the best methods to quantify the C sequestration potential of the practice. These results indicate that this soil and water conservation technology not only harvests water and increases food production, but also increases soil organic carbon. This technology thus is a successful technique to sequester C in soils and if carried out in a large region may both offset CO2 emissions and help mitigate climate change.

Source and more

December 6, 2007 - Representatives from 190 nations are meeting in Bali, Indonesia from December 3 – 14 to address challenges linked to global climate change. The meeting marks the start of negotiations leading to what the United Nations hopes will be a renewal and extension of the Kyoto Protocol. A delegation from the World Bank, led by President Robert B. Zoellick, will join the conference.

Related Links Bank Group Brings Low-Carbon Growth Strategy to Bali Conference WB Research on the Challenges of Adapting to Climate Change The World Bank in Africa On the eve of the global gathering, the World Bank’s lead climate change specialist for Africa and a member of the Bali delegation Aziz Bouzaher discussed the impact of climate change on Africa, and Bank actions to help client countries adapt to and mitigate it. How is the World Bank’s Africa Region responding to climate change? AB: The Africa region is responding swiftly, as is the entire institution, to the emerging needs linked to climate change. Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change because of a number of things: the high dependence on natural resources, the low availability of infrastructure, the extent of poverty and the low level of institutional capacity to respond. The region is also predicted to be hardest hit in terms of catastrophic natural disasters. So we are developing a robust strategy and will be consulting with our clients and partners along the way. That strategy is to mainstream climate change into our operations and develop capacity to respond quickly – and effectively – to client needs.We have a framework with four pillars: The core pillar is adaptation. If the climate changes, you have to adapt. This pillar covers agriculture, energy, health, land management, forestry, biodiversity and fisheries, disaster preparedness, and coastal areas. The second pillar is building institutional knowledge and strengthening country capacity so that institutions are better able to deal with climate change. Third is to take advantage of mitigation opportunities, in other words to reduce emissions. The fourth and final pillar is to mobilize financing (including from the International Development Association, the World Bank Group’s concessional lending arm) and piloting new, innovative market-based carbon instruments to help our countries gain access to new funding sources. Is this strategy part of the Region’s larger ongoing work? Frequent extreme weather events AB: A lot of the response to climate change is already built into current Bank policies and programs. For example, in Madagascar which is prone to cyclones, we are working on developing disaster preparedness. We are building the capacity and the tools and policies for the country to be better prepared. In some of our work on agriculture and water management, we are dealing with issues of drought and of the predicted high variability in water resources due to climate variability. In the energy sector, we have decidedly moved toward more clean energy. Our work on biofuels is contributing to the reduction of emissions.