The Opportunity for Agriculture
Becoming Climate-Smart and Sequestering Carbon
View PublicationThe future of agricultural productivity is intertwined with climate change. Agriculture is a significant contributor to GHG emissions (10-12% of all emissions); at the same time, many agricultural areas are facing changes in mean temperature, precipitation, and increasing climate variability, all of which may impact their harvests. As a result, it will be essential for farmers to adopt climate-smart practices that can increase resilience.
One approach to increase productivity that numerous farming systems around the world are using is the adoption of practices that keep carbon in the soil, as increased soil carbon correlates with increased yields. At the same time, soil carbon sequestration offers the potential to sequester carbon, thereby mitigating climate change. As a result, this approach could address two of the main challenges that we face in the coming years: feeding 9 billion people by 2050 and preventing dangerous build-up of green-house gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere.
This brief illustrates how to develop soil carbon projects, using the experience of two pilot projects, from the concept through planning stages and ultimately, it is hoped, implementation.