Notes for Daniel on Carbon Sequestration


General Info on CO2 sequestration in land


Carbon Cycles and Sinks Network: http://carboncyclesandsinks.org/


The purpose of this Carbon Cycles and Sinks project is to develop policies which will enable the
Irish land mass to become a carbon sink rather than a source of greenhouse emissions.


Using livestock to support sequestration


Support for grass-fed beef: http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/articles.aspx?page=articles&ID=219456


The grass-fed livestock movement popular in the US could soon gain momentum here, with the launch
next year of a new brand promoting pasture-fed meat and dairy to UK consumers. The Pasture-Fed
Livestock Association, a community interest company set up earlier this year by a group of 20
farmers, plans to launch a series of pilots with farmers and butchers in the autumn with a view to
launching the brand Pastoral in 2012.
The farmers, who are mainly from the Midlands, the West and the South-West, want to promote the
economic and environmental benefits of eating products from animals fed entirely on pasture, and to
encourage farmers to use pastureland more productively. More than half the UK's farmland was
pasture, the group said, and pasture-fed dairy and meat products could be positioned as more
sustainable alternatives to products from livestock raised on imported grains and soyabeans.
If the UK were to choose grass over grain for feed, it could move towards a farming system less
dependent on traded commodities, it added. Farmers in the PFLA could see "the inherent fault-lines"
in industrial livestock farming, said company secretary John Meadley. "They intend to secure the
future of their farms through an approach that builds on Britain's advantage in pasture," he added.


Biochar

Charcoal’s Potential to Reverse Climate Change and Build Soil Fertility

Charcoal-making is one of the oldest industrial technologies, and in the last decade there has been
a growing wave of excitement about its potential for combating climate change. This is because
burying biochar (fine-grained charcoal) is a highly effective way to extract carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere. In addition it can increase the yield of food crops and the ability of soil to
retain moisture. Some people are concerned that awarding carbon credits for biochar could have
seriously damaging outcomes. The Biochar Debate agrees, but describes an alternative approach,
called the Carbon Maintenance Fund (CMF), that avoids the dangers. This would give every government
the incentive to enable businesses, farmers and individuals to increase their country’s carbon
pool. It is based on remote sensing by satellite, a tried and tested technology, and would be
applied globally each year to measure the increase or decrease of carbon in plants, soil and roots.

http://www.biochar.info/