SIDE EVENTS  Biochar can act as an insurer for food and cleaner fuel security while simultaneously aiding in the effort to reverse global warming
Side event on Thursday 11 December starting at 13:00 in Room Fox at Poznan Climate Talks
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will organize a side event on Thursday, 11 December from 13:00 to 15:00 in Room Fox to learn more about biochar. A group of panellists from the UNCCD, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, United Nations Development Programme-Drylands Development Centre, and United Nations Environment Programme will explain the capability of biochar to provide an optimal site for carbon sequestration, and at the same time increase land productivity so that the challenge of global warming and the world’s increasing need of food and cleaner fuels can be better met.
In light of the fact that the world’s soils hold more organic carbon than that held by the atmosphere as CO2 and vegetation combined, land as a major factor in carbon sequestration has remained under recognized. As the Earth is placed under more and more stress to produce food, fiber and energy, more and more carbon is removed from the ground and emitted into the atmosphere. A side effect of this ongoing global carbon cycle is the reduction of the soil’s fertility, impacting its long-term effectiveness.
Biochar, or charcoal, is one solution to slow down and even reverse the process. Taking biomass and converting it to biochar creates an unsurpassed location to sequester carbon with the added benefit of enhancing that soil’s fertility. Examples like the Chernozems of European Russia and the Terra Preta soils of Brazil are amongst the world’s most fertile.
Sustainable soil management can re-enrich with carbon large swathes of land that have been degraded as a result of inadequate farming practices and overproduction on the land. A huge potential to sequester carbon is available, particularly in drylands that are marginalized and uncultivated.
Biochar also can be implemented quickly on a small scale (e.g. cooking stoves). Large scale practices (e.g. biorefineries) also show great promise.
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