• Authors:
    • Managanvi, K.
    • Erayya
    • Makanur, B
    • Jagdish, J.
  • Source: Environment and Ecology
  • Volume: 31
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2013
  • Summary: The evidence for climate change is now considered to be unequivocal, and trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2), temperature and sealevel rise are tracking the upper limit of model scenarios elaborated in the Fourth Assessment (AR4) undertaken by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Agriculture directly contributes almost 14% of total Green House Gas (GHG) emissions and indirectly accounts for a further 7% incurred by the conversion of forests to agriculture (mostly conversion to rangeland in the Amazon), currently at the rate of 7.3 million ha/year. It focuses on specific aspects of agriculture and agricultural water management that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and offer prospects for mitigation. In addition to the impacts of cycles of wetting and drying, the concentration of inorganic and organic fertilizer on land with some form of water management means that the practice of irrigation has scope to mitigate GHG emissions. Global atmospheric temperature is predicted to rise by approximately 4°C by 2080, consistent with a doubling of atmospheric CO 2 concentration. Increased atmospheric concentrations of CO 2 enhance photosynthetic efficiency and reduce rates of respiration, offsetting the loss of production potential due to temperature rise. Early hopes for substantial CO 2 mitigation of production losses due to global warming have been restrained. A second line of reasoning is that by the time CO 2 levels have doubled, temperatures will also have risen by 4°C, negating any benefit.
  • Authors:
    • Sajjakulnukit, B.
    • Jenjariyakosoln, S.
    • Garivait, S.
  • Source: International Journal of Environmental Science and Development
  • Volume: 4
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2013
  • Summary: This paper presents an approach to evaluate the net energy potential of sugarcane field residues in Thailand. It was estimated that around 13,595 ktons of sugarcane field residues was burned in the field annually in the country. Assuming 100% collection efficiency, this amount could be converted to 210.46 PJ through power generation. The quantity of greenhouse gases (GHGs) including CO 2, CH 4, and N 2O emitted from open burning of sugarcane residues was compared to that released from power production using life cycle analysis methodology for the estimation. It was found that the avoided GHG emissions obtained for power generation represent 11,836 ktons CO 2 equivalent, based on the country specific emission factor of electricity production using coal as fuel of 1.09 kg CO 2/kWh. Although this enormous potential for energy production in Thailand, sugarcane field residues availability is subject to seasonal variability, which limits its capacity to serve as fuel for power generation. The total avoided GHG emissions were therefore 11,836 ktons CO 2eq and 8,285 ktons CO 2eq annually for collection efficiency of 100% and 70%, respectively. Comparatively to the national CO 2 emissions from coal power generation of 34,532 ktons CO 2eq in 2011, the avoided GHG emissions would be about 34% and 24% for collection efficiency of 100% and 70%, respectively.
  • Authors:
    • Govindaraj, M.
    • Prabukumar, G.
    • Arunachalam, P.
    • Kannan, P.
  • Source: African Journal of Agricultural Research
  • Volume: 8
  • Issue: 21
  • Year: 2013
  • Summary: Atmospheric rise of CO 2, N 2O and CH 4 over years, accelerated increase in global temperature, has led to uncertainty in monsoon rainfall and also leading to recurrence of drought, which in turn is severely affecting crop productivity and livelihood security of the farmers in Semi Arid Tropics. Agriculture contributes considerable amount of CO 2, N 2O and CH 4 emission into the atmosphere through different soil and crop management practices. Nevertheless agricultural activities contribute to global warming. The medium of crop production, soil is one of the major sinks of global warming gaseous and it helps to sequester more carbon and cut the N 2O emission by adopting smart soil and crop management techniques. Biochar is one of the viable organic amendments to combat climate change and sustain the soil health with sustainable crop production. It is an anaerobic pyrolysis product derived from organic sources and store carbon on a long term basis in the terrestrial ecosystem and also capable of reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) emission from soil to the atmosphere. Biochar application improved the soil health, increase the carbon capture and storage, reduce the GHG emission and enhance the crop yield with sustained soil health, which enables to meet out the food grain needs of the ever growing population.
  • Authors:
    • Navichoc, D.
    • Soto, M.
    • Rivera, L.
    • Killian, B.
  • Source: Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, B
  • Volume: 3
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2013
  • Summary: The issue of carbon emissions has been on the corporate sustainability agenda for some years. For those working in agricultural supply chains, the challenges remain significant, given the diverse direct and indirect emissions occurring throughout the value chain. This study determines the carbon footprint of the supply chain of Costa Rican coffee exported to Europe, using best practice methodology to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. Overall, it was found that the total carbon footprint across the entire supply chain is 4.82 kg CO 2e kg -1 green coffee. The carbon footprint of the processes in Costa Rica to produce 1 km of green coffee is 1.77 kg CO 2e. The processes within Europe generate 3.05 kg CO 2e kg -1 green coffee. This carbon footprint is considered as "very high intensity". This paper also identifies the sources of the most intense emission and discusses mitigation possibilities on which efforts must be focused.
  • Authors:
    • Bonsch, M.
    • Dietrich, J. P.
    • Popp, A.
    • Lotze-Campen, H.
    • Krause, M.
  • Source: Land Use Policy
  • Volume: 30
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2013
  • Summary: Conservation of undisturbed natural forests, which are important for biodiversity, carbon storage, and other ecosystem services, affects agricultural production and cropland expansion. We analyze the economic impacts of undisturbed natural forest conservation programs on agriculture and the magnitude of avoided deforestation and avoided carbon emissions in the tropics. We apply a global agricultural land use model to estimate changes in agricultural production costs for the period 2015-2055. Our forest conservation scenarios reflect two different policy goals: either maximize forest carbon storage or minimize impacts on agricultural production. In all the scenarios, the economic impacts on agriculture are relatively low. Production costs would increase due to forest conservation by a maximum of 4%, predominantly driven by increased investments in agricultural productivity increase. We also show regional differences in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, due to different growth rates in food demand, land availability and crop productivity. The area of avoided deforestation does not exceed 1.5 million ha yr(-1) in the period 2015-2055, while avoided carbon emissions reach a maximum of 1.9 Gt CO2 per year. According to our results on the potential changes in agricultural production costs, undisturbed natural forest conservation appears to be a low-cost option for greenhouse gas emission reduction. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
  • Authors:
    • Melling, L.
  • Source: Planter
  • Volume: 89
  • Issue: 1051
  • Year: 2013
  • Summary: Arable land is among one of the world's most important resources that influences a nation's wealth. In Sarawak, tropical peatland is the last frontier of arable land available for industrial agriculture development. Being the last exploited land resources, it is the least researched soil type among the tropical soils and making it the most least understood. Tropical peats that co-existed with the tropical ecosystem are liken to mineral soils of the tropics and are quite different from temperate peats because they are formed under contrasting climatic (wet and dry seasons) and edaphic conditions. Temperate peats are mainly derived from the remains of low growing plants ( Sphagnum spp., Gramineae spp. and Cyperaceae spp.) which are more cellulosic in nature. Tropical peats, on the other hand, are formed from forest species and hence tend to have large amounts of undecomposed and partially decomposed logs, branches and other plant remains which are more lignified. Recently, there has been an increasing trend in oil palm cultivations on tropical peatland. Conversion of tropical peatland into oil palm plantation in South East Asia has been assumed to enhance decomposition process via peat oxidation due to drainage and water management, which leads to the raising level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. It has also been postulated that this process will increase in time with oil palm cultivation. However, the management has its contributing factor towards GHG emission from an oil palm plantation and its after effect of climate change due to peatland conversion. Drainage, compaction and water management formed a part of the development process for oil palm peat planting. To further understand the role of water table on soil carbon (C) flux in tropical peatland, a study on GHG from three different ecosystems on tropical peatland was commissioned i.e. oil palm plantation, secondary forest and tropical peat swamp forest for 12 months using a closed chamber method. The mean water table levels at these three ecosystems were -67.6 cm, -14.7 cm and -3.9 cm, respectively. Mean soil CH 4 flux was lowest at the oil palm plantation (0.003 t CH 4/ha/yr), followed by secondary forest (0.067 t CH 4/ha/yr) and tropical peat swamp forest (0.179 t CH 4/ha/yr). However, even though the mean water table levels in the three ecosystems differed by an average of 42.5 cm, the mean soil CO 2 fluxes were quite similar: oil palm plantation (32.89 t CO 2/ha/yr), secondary forest (41.10 t CO 2/ha/yr) and tropical peat swamp forest (45.08 t CO 2/ha/yr). These findings indicated that on tropical peatland soil CH 4 flux was highly influenced by water table but not soil CO 2 flux. Since the total soil CH 4 flux was much lower compared with soil CO 2 flux, it was concluded that water table was not the most important factor influencing the soil C flux in tropical peatland.
  • Authors:
    • La Scala, N.,Jr.
    • Panosso, A. R.
    • Padovan, M. P.
    • Moitinho, M. R.
  • Source: REVISTA BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIA DO SOLO
  • Volume: 37
  • Issue: 6
  • Year: 2013
  • Summary: The soil is one of the main C pools in terrestrial ecosystem, capable of storing significant C amounts. Therefore, understanding the factors that contribute to the loss of CO2 from agricultural soils is critical to determine strategies reducing emissions of this gas and help mitigate the greenhouse effect. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of soil tillage and sugarcane trash on CO2 emissions, temperature and soil moisture during sugarcane (re) planting, over a study period of 15 days. The following managements were evaluated: no-tillage with crop residues left on the soil surface (NTR); without tillage and without residue (NTNR) and tillage with no residue (TNR). The average soil CO2 emission (FCO2) was lowest in NTR (2.16 mu mol m(-2) s(-1)), compared to the managements NTNR (2.90 mu mol m(-2) s(-1)) and TNR (3.22 mu mol m(-2) s(-1)), indicating that the higher moisture and lower soil temperature variations observed in NTR were responsible for this decrease. During the study period, the lowest daily average FCO2 was recorded in NTR (1.28 mu mol m(-2) s(-1)), and the highest in TNR (6.08 mu mol m(-2) s(-1)), after rainfall. A loss of soil CO2 was lowest from the management NTR (367 kg ha(-1) of CO2-C) and differing significantly (p<0.05) from the managements NTNR (502 kg ha(-1) of CO2-C) and TNR (535 kg ha(-1) of CO2-C). Soil moisture was the variable that differed most managements and was positively correlated (r = 0.55, p<0.05) with the temporal variations of CO2 emission from NTR and TNR. In addition, the soil temperature differed (p<0.05) only in management NTR (24 degrees C) compared to NTNR (26 degrees C) and TNR (26.5 degrees C), suggesting that under the conditions of this study, sugarcane trash left on the surface induced an average rise in the of soil temperature of 2 degrees C.
  • Authors:
    • Murgueitio Restrepo, E.
    • Ibrahim, M.
    • Montagnini, F.
  • Source: BOIS ET FORETS DES TROPIQUES
  • Issue: 316
  • Year: 2013
  • Summary: Cattle production is part of people's cultures and is important for human nutrition and welfare. However, conventional cattle ranching is a source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Carbon sequestration in vegetation and soils can be enhanced and GHG emissions reduced with controlled grazing, appropriate pasture species, and the use of silvopastoral systems (SPS), which combine trees and shrubs with pastures. In addition, SPS contribute to climate change adaptation thanks to the ameliorating effects of trees on air temperatures that dry out pastures, as well as improving animal well-being and productivity. Several types of SPS are commonly found in the agricultural landscapes of Latin America. Intensive SPS (ISPS), where fodder banks are combined with woody species planted at high density, produce better yields than conventional ranching thanks to higher cattle density and better weight gain by the animals. Research in Colombia, Nicaragua and Costa Rica shows that SPS have more carbon in aboveground biomass and in soils than degraded pastures. In SPS, the timber or fruit trees, either planted or from natural forest regeneration, increases carbon stocks and sequestration rates. Native tree species can be used in SPS with good results in terms of productivity, soil restoration, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity conservation. The use of SPS contributes to carbon sequestration in trees and in soils, while establishing forest plantations and conserving secondary forests increase carbon sequestration and storage at the landscape level. SPS and especially ISPS can contribute to climate change mitigation because their net GHG emissions can be negative. In Latin America, successful ISPS are being scaled up to regional levels. Incentives such as Payments for Environmental Services along with technical assistance can stimulate the adoption of SPS, thus contributing to climate change mitigation while preserving rural livelihoods.
  • Authors:
    • Nakayama, Y.
    • Kuwashima, K.
    • Kawabata, C.
    • Gobara, Y.
    • Hamotani, Y.
    • Heriyanto, J.
    • Wicaksono, A.
    • Konda, R.
    • Ishizuka, S.
    • Ohta, S.
    • Mori, T.
    • Hardjono, A.
  • Source: Forest Ecology and Management
  • Volume: 310
  • Year: 2013
  • Summary: A 2-year-long monitoring experiment was conducted to determine the effects of phosphorus (P) addition on nitrous oxide (N2O) emission, methane (CH4) uptake and carbon (C) sequestration and decomposition in a newly established Acacia mangium plantation in South Sumatra, Indonesia. We established three large plots and prepared six control sub-plots and four sub-plots with P added in each large plot. Gas emissions were measured using a chamber method. We also measured selected physical and chemical parameters for soil, fresh leaves, litter layers, and the aboveground biomass of Acacia trees. Mean daily N2O flux was reduced (0.42 mg N m(-2) day(-1)) by P addition. The reduction in N2O emissions resulting from P addition was likely to be due to the stimulation of root uptake of soil N and water, as suggested by the soil N and WFPS dynamics and correlations with N2O fluxes. P addition significantly increased (25.6 Mg ha(-1) 20 months(-1)) the Acacia biomass, contributing to an increase (46.9 Mg CO2-e ha(-1)) in C sequestration. P addition also stimulated soil C decomposition. Soil total C (TC) decreased significantly (0.14 kg C m(-2)) in the second year of P addition; CO2 emissions from soil were also stimulated (0.29 g C m(-2) day(-1)) by P addition. P addition reduced (0.15 mg C m(-2) day(-1)) CH4 uptake significantly, although the difference was small.
  • Authors:
    • Moudry, J.
    • Plch, R.
    • Jaresova, M.
    • Jelinkova, Z.
    • Moudry, J., Jr.
    • Konvalina, P.
  • Source: Outlook on Agriculture
  • Volume: 42
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2013
  • Summary: This study evaluates the impact of selected potato farming and processing activities on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was used for this evaluation, and was applied to products cultivated under both conventional and organic production, and processed under technological conditions common in the Czech Republic. Farm questionnaires were supplemented with information from the scientific literature to acquire the necessary data for modelling. The SIMA Pro software and the ReCiPe Midpoint (H) method were used for simulation. The results show a lower level of emissions under organic production (0.126 kg CO(2)e per kg of potatoes, compared with 0.145 kg CO(2)e per kg of conventionally grown potatoes). However, this benefit is cancelled out by higher emissions due to the transportation of organic products over long distances.