Abstract
Biochar was recently included as a promising negative emissions technology (NET) in the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Unlike other NETs, it can potentially be used to mitigate global climate change while adding to local resilience in countries highly exposed and sensitive to impacts of climate change, such as least-developed countries (LDCs). The study is as an empirical contribution to the, as of yet, underdeveloped literature on deployment of negative emissions technologies in LDCs in general and on biochar use in developing countries and LDCs specifically. Nine historical and existing biochar projects in Tanzania are mapped in order to analyse problems, goals and common trade-offs associated with small- to medium-scale biochar production in LDCs. The mapping is based on a literature and document study, interviews with project actors, and on-site visits to biochar projects during 2019. The paper gives support to the observation made in the biochar literature that while biochar has many potential socio-economic and environmental benefits, combining them in one single project is difficult. It is concluded that implementing biochar projects in Tanzania will likely involve trade-offs between the development and subsistence strategies and needs of local communities, the motivational forces of different project participants, and the uneven regulatory capacity of the state. We end by reflecting on the use of biochar projects to offset carbon emissions made elsewhere.
Highlights
Biochar was recently included as a promising negative emissions technology (NET) in the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (IPCC 2018, Chapters 2 and 4) produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The feedstock aspect is crucial in evaluations of biochar systems, because it is highly determinative of biochar characteristics (e.g. Barrow 2012) and because it determines whether environmental benefits outweigh negatives on aggregate (Alberti 2013; Cowie et al 2015)
In 2016, the commercial coffee company Tembo Coffee established a biochar project in collaboration with the Tanzanian non-governmental organisation (NGO) MIICO, which is focused on improving agricultural and marketing possibilities for coffee farmers struggling with low productivity
Summary
Biochar was recently included as a promising negative emissions technology (NET) in the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (IPCC 2018, Chapters 2 and 4) produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Field results from Kenya have shown positive effects on crop yields (Kimetu et al 2008; Kätterer et al 2019), though not inconclusively (Güereña et al 2015) Biochar may strengthen both the nutrient retention (Hagemann et al 2017) and water retention (Mulcahy et al 2013) capability of soils, may positively affect biotic interactions (Thies et al 2015) and remedy acidic soils through its liming effect (Verheijen et al 2010), while absorbing pollutants (Beesley and Marmiroli 2011), providing a range of potential benefits for agriculture in stressed and vulnerable contexts. Because of the poor state of its soils, vulnerable populations and severely stressed forests, the continent of Africa has been identified as a site where small-scale biochar projects could play an important role in creating local benefits while offsetting carbon emissions from other regions (Adegbeye et al 2020; Whitman and Lehmann 2009; see Middendorf et al 2017; World Bank 2013)
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