- Grasslands have vast untapped potential to mitigate climate change by absorbing and storing CO2, according to a new report by FAO. Pastures and rangelands represent a carbon sink that could be greater than forests if properly managed.
Covering some 30 percent of the earth’s ice-free land surface and accounting for 70 percent of its agricultural land, the world’s 3.4 billion ha of grasslands can also play a major role in supporting the adaptation and reducing the vulnerability to climate change of over one billion people who depend on livestock for a living, according to the paper - Review of Evidence on Drylands Pastoral Systems and Climate Change.
“The world will have to use all options to contain average global warming within 2 degrees Celsius. Agriculture and land use have the potential to help minimise net greenhouse gas emissions through specific practices, especially building soil and biomass carbon. These practices can at the same time increase the productivity and resilience of agriculture, thus contributing to food security and poverty reduction,” said FAO Assistant Director-General Alexander Müller.
The FAO paper said grazing lands are estimated to store 30 percent of the world’s soil carbon in addition to the substantial amount of above-ground carbon held in trees, bushes, shrubs and grasses. But they are particularly sensitive to land degradation, which affects some 70 percent of pastures as a result of overgrazing, salinization, acidification and other processes. Pressure on the land is also increasing in order to meet fast-growing demand for meat and dairy products.
Improved management practices restoring organic matter to grassland soils, reducing erosion and decreasing losses from burning and overgrazing can therefore help sequester large amounts of carbon – up to 1 billion tonnes a year according to some estimates. But this would require a vigorous and coordinated global effort and appropriate funding, the paper reported.
The FAO further reported that a more immediately feasible target would be to place 5-10 percent of global grazing lands under carbon sequestration management by 2020, which could store 184 million tonnes of carbon a year.
It however continued that socio-political and economic barriers need to be overcome too. They include land tenure, common property and privatisation issues; competition from cropping; and lack of education and health services for mobile or nomadic pastoralists.
The FAO report continues that increasing the amount of carbon sequestered in grasslands can help pastoralist populations adapt to climate change because the added carbon improves the soil’s water retention capacity and thus its ability to withstand drought.
"Another consideration is safeguarding biodiversity. According to some estimates, the potential biodiversity of grasslands is only slightly less than that of forests. But there is also evidence that the number of animal and plant species and soil microorganisms resident in grazing lands is declining alarmingly through mismanagement, land use change and more recently climate change," stated the report.
The report suggest that measures promoting improved grasslands management should include payment for environmental services (PES) which include both financial rewards and non-financial incentives such as capacity building and knowledge sharing.
It further stated that increased access to existing development and funding mechanisms such as the Global Environment Facility should be made possible for efforts that contribute to sustainable use of grasslands and restoring their carbon storage potential.
"Besides climate change mitigation, such efforts would also contribute to climate change adaptation and to the improved livelihoods of pastoral and agropastoral peoples," it concluded.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
front page
| news
| countries
| archive
| currencies
| news alerts login
| about afrol News
| contact
| advertise
| español