Agriculture is multi-functional, producing economic goods including food, feed, fibre, and fuel, as well as providing several intangible or non-tradable services to society free of cost. Non-tradable services, unlike economic goods, remain unpriced; as a result, farmers are not compensated monetarily for the benefits of the several non-tradable services they …
Question raised in Rajya Sabha on Adverse Effect of Chemical Fertilizers on Climate, 10/03/2017. Scientific studies have revealed that there is no harmful effect of chemical fertilisers with balanced and judicious use, rather have beneficial effect as it encourages soil carbon sequestration. The emission of nitrous oxide from nitrogeneous fertilizers …
The use of wood for electricity generation and heat in modern (non-traditional) technologies has grown rapidly in recent years, and has the potential to continue to do so. For its supporters, it represents a relatively cheap and flexible way of supplying renewable energy, with benefits to the global climate and …
This study, ‘Forest Carbon Assessment in Chitwan-Annapurna Landscape (CHAL) for REDD+ Readiness Activities’ presents the comprehensive baseline of forest carbon stock in CHAL with a detailed assessment of carbon sequestration potential, carbon-capture, permanency, leakage, and risks from the forest coverage.
The purpose of this study was to estimate the benefits and costs of reducing deforestation and forest degradation in different landscapes and management regimes in Nepal, and to provide associated opportunity costs of carbon that can be used as inputs for planning the implementation of REDD+ in Nepal. The annual …
A new report enables agricultural companies to set science-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets for key commodities. Funded by the KR Foundation, the University of Aberdeen, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and Ecofys have developed a new science-based target setting methodology for key commodities of the Agriculture, Forestry and Other …
This Environmental and Social Management Framework (EMSF) has been prepared in support of a project proposal for “Enhancing climate resilience of India’s coastal communities” by the Government of India (GoI) to the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The project aims to enhance the resilience of the lives and livelihoods of the …
Devising agricultural management schemes that enhance food security and soil carbon levels is a high priority for many nations. However, the coupling between agricultural productivity, soil carbon stocks and organic matter turnover rates is still unclear. Archived soil samples from four decades of a long-term crop rotation trial were analyzed …
This report provides the technical description of seven models on ecosystem services on a European scale. The ecosystem services included are carbon sequestration, erosion prevention, flood regulation, pollination, pest control, recreation and wild food provisioning. Those models can be used for analysing future developments in the delivery of ecosystem services. …
GGGI published a report titled, ‘Bridging the Policy and Investment Gap for Payment for Ecosystem Services: Learning from the Costa Rican Experience and Roads Ahead’. This report provides findings based on the Costa Rican experiences that are beneficial for countries around the world implementing Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes. …
Following the 2016 entry into force of the Paris Agreement, governments are now expected to turn their greenhouse gas emissions pledges into concrete climate policies. Given the global public good nature of climate change mitigation and the important differences in cross-country marginal abatement costs, distributing abatement efforts across countries could …
Question raised in Lok Sabha on Carbon Capture Sequestration, 29/11/2016. The Government has taken several steps to contain carbon emission in the country through the implementation of National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), comprising of eight missions in specific areas of solar energy, enhanced energy efficiency, habitat, water, sustaining …
Humans have altered terrestrial ecosystems for millennia, yet wilderness areas still remain as vital refugia where natural ecological and evolutionary processes operate with minimal human disturbance, underpinning key regional- and planetary-scale functions. Despite the myriad values of wilderness areas—as critical strongholds for endangered biodiversity, for carbon storage and sequestration, for …
REDD+, agroforestry systems have the potential to reduce deforestation and forest degradation directly and indirectly. They supply timber and fuel wood that would otherwise be sourced from adjacent forests. In fact, agroforestry has been used in several protected area landscape buffer zones and in conservation programmes as a way of …
A new report quantifies the carbon stored aboveground in tropical forests that are legally owned or traditionally held by Indigenous Peoples and local communities in 37 countries across tropical America, Africa, and Asia. The report launches a long term collaboration among the Woods Hole Research Center, Rights and Resources Initiative, …
As many countries are increasing commitments to address climate change, national governments are exploring how they could best reduce the impact of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Agriculture is a major contributor to GHG emissions, especially in developing countries, where this sector accounts for an average of 35% of all …
Analysis of observations and model projections provides large-scale emergent constraints on the extent of CO2 fertilization, with estimated increases in gross primary productivity for both high-latitude and extratropical ecosystems under elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
A new report offers evidence that the modest investments needed to secure land rights for indigenous communities will generate billions in returns—economically, socially and environmentally—for local communities and the world’s changing climate. The report, Climate Benefits, Tenure Costs: The Economic Case for Securing Indigenous Land Rights, quantifies for the first …
This review summarizes current knowledge on the potential of ecosystems beyond terrestrial forests to contribute to climate change mitigation. It provides information on the capacity of existing management techniques for peatlands, grasslands and savannahs, coastal ecosystems and croplands to sustain and enhance carbon stocks and carbon sequestration. Recommendations are made …
Storing carbon in land is no substitute for reducing fossil fuel emissions. The report finds that while increasing carbon in land systems is important, Australia is muddying the waters by combining land carbon and fossil fuel reduction policies – which is giving an inaccurate picture of Australia’s progress in tackling …
Revegetation of degraded ecosystems provides opportunities for carbon sequestration and bioenergy production. However, vegetation expansion in water-limited areas creates potentially conflicting demands for water between the ecosystem and humans. Current understanding of these competing demands is still limited. Here, we study the semi-arid Loess Plateau in China, where the ‘Grain …
