49-4 Agricultural Mitigation of Climate Change: Potential and Challenges.



Monday, October 17, 2011: 9:35 AM
Henry Gonzalez Convention Center, Room 207A, Concourse Level

Rattan Lal, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Agricultural soils, comprising of about 1500 million hectares (Mha) of croplands and 3500 Mha of grazing/pasturelands, can be source or sink of greenhouse gases (GHGs) depending on land use and management.  Food security being of the highest priority, conversion to a judicious land use and adoption of the soil/site-specific recommended management practices (RMPs) are important to creating a positive ecosystem C budget and making agricultural soils a sink of atmospheric CO2. The technical potential of C sequestration in agricultural soils is 0.4-1.2 Pg C/yr for croplands, 0.3-0.5 Pg C/yr for savanna/grasslands, and 0.5-1.4 Pg C/yr for restoration of degraded/desertified lands. Realization of this potential, however, depends on incentivization of land managers through just and fair payments for ecosystem services.
See more from this Division: Canadian Society of Soil Science
See more from this Session: Symposium--Mitigation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions In Managed Systems