Climate Change Mitigation through Organic Carbon Strategies

Full citation:

Dreyfus, Gabrielle, Caitlan Frederick, Emily Larkin, Yifan Powers, and Jagori Chatterjee. 2023. “Reducing Nitrous Oxide Emissions From Smallholder Farmer Agriculture Through Site Specific Nutrient Management.” Precision Development. https://precisiondev.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IGSDPxD-Reducing-nitrous-oxide-emissions-02-06-23-2.pdf

Authors:

Gabrielle Dreyfus, Caitlan Frederick, Emily Larkin, Yifan Powers

Links:

https://precisiondev.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IGSDPxD-Climate-Change-Mitigation-through-Organic-Carbon-Strategies-16-02-23-1.pdf

Abstract:

While direct carbon dioxide emission from agriculture is relatively low, particularly in Global South geographies where the sector is less mechanized, there is high potential for agriculture to contribute to climate change mitigation. By leveraging the natural role of plants and soils in the cycling of organic carbon, agricultural land can act as a carbon sink. Studies estimate a technical potential of soils in global cropland and pasture land to store 2–5 Gt CO2 per year. Strategies for enhancing carbon sequestration in agricultural systems include conservation agriculture, agroforestry, and biochar amendments. The amount of carbon that could be sequestered from these strategies is dependent on multiple factors, including soil properties and temperature, and are extremely context-specific. This review provides an overview of the opportunities for climate change mitigation in smallholder farmer contexts using such strategies, and provides insights into how to take farmers’ many intersecting challenges into account for successful implementation.