Carbon accounting tools for sustainable land management
Agriculture is intrinsically linked to climate, with most agricultural technologies having direct or indirect climate links. Agriculture and the patterns of land use change (LUC) that are associated with it, have a high environmental footprint and contribute to climate change, as the sector accounts for about one-quarter of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. At the same time, agriculture is strongly influenced by weather and climate (Battisti and Naylor 2009; FAO et al. 2017; IPCC 2001; Lobell et al. 2008). Climate change poses a major challenge to the agricultural sector due to the dependence of
agriculture on climate and the complex role it plays in rural, social, and economic contexts (Hatfield et al. 2011). According to the FAO (2002), the rising incidence of weather extremes will have increasingly negative impacts on crop productivity, especially if occurring at sensitive stages in crop life cycles (National Climate Assessment 2014). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its fifth assessment report, predicts that climate change will affect food security substantially by the mid-21st century. Yet climate-smart agriculture and sustainable land management practices such as reforestation, improved water management, integrated soil fertility management, conservation agriculture, agroforestry, better rangeland management can be major sinks, presenting opportunities to mitigate climate change by removing substantial volumes of carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering them in soils and plant tissues.
We cannot fix what we do not measure. Systematic assessments are required to make targeted decisions and, therefore, ensure food security. The quantification of GHG emissions and carbon sequestration is a necessary step for SLM. GHG accounting can provide the numbers and data that are key for informed decision making. It can help identify management practices and opportunities that reduce GHG emissions while also providing improved food security, more resilient production systems, and better rural livelihoods. In practical terms, GHG emissions data can support farmers in adopting less carbon-intensive practices, guiding low-emissions development, assessing product supply chains, certifying sustainable agriculture practices, and informing consumers on the carbon footprint of their choices (Olander et al. 2013). Many tools have been developed for assessing GHG emissions from SLM in the last few years. Denef et al. (2012) classify these tools as calculators, protocols, guidelines, and models. This report documents efforts of a study under the Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change Mitigation Co-benefits (SLM-CCMC) project financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to create an environment which will make it easier for land management project managers to realize the climate change co-benefits of climate-smart agriculture.
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