Carbon sequestration in European croplands

Abstract

The Marrakech Accords allow biospheric carbon sinks and sources to be included in attempts to meet emission reduction targets for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. Forest management, cropland management, grazing land management, and re-vegetation are allowable activities under Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol. Soil carbon sinks (and sources) can, therefore, be included under these activities. Croplands are estimated to be the largest biospheric source of carbon lost to the atmosphere in Europe each year, but the cropland estimate is the most uncertain among all land-use types. It is estimated that European croplands (for Europe as far east as the Urals) lose 300 Tg (C) per year, with the mean figure for the European Union estimated to be 78 Tg (C) per year (with one SD=37). National estimates for EU countries are of a similar order of magnitude on a per-area basis. There is significant potential within Europe to decrease the flux of carbon to the atmosphere from cropland, and for cropland management to sequester soil carbon, relative to the amount of carbon stored in cropland soils at present. The biological potential for carbon storage in European (EU 15) cropland is of the order of 90-120 Tg (C) per year, with a range of options available that include reduced and zero tillage, set-aside, perennial crops, deep rooting crops, more efficient use of organic amendments (animal manure, sewage sludge, cereal straw, compost), improved rotations, irrigation, bioenergy crops, extensification, organic farming, and conversion of arable land to grassland or woodland. The sequestration potential, considering only constraints on land use, amounts of raw materials and available land, is up to 45 Tg (C) per year. The realistic potential and the conservative achievable potentials may be considerably lower than the biological potential because of socioeconomic and other constraints, with a realistically achievable potential estimated to be about 20% of the biological potential. As with other carbon sequestration options, potential impacts of non-CO, trace gases also need to be factored in. If carbon sequestration in croplands is to be used in helping to meet emission reduction targets for the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, the changes in soil carbon must be measurable and verifiable. Changes in soil carbon can be difficult to measure over a 5-year commitment period, and this has implications for Kyoto accounting and verification. Currently, most countries can hope to achieve only a low level of verifiability during the first commitment period, whereas those with the best-developed national carbon accounting systems will be able to deliver an intermediate level of verifiability. Very stringent definitions of verifiability would require verification that would be prohibitively expensive for any country. There is considerable potential in European croplands to reduce carbon fluxes to the atmosphere and to sequester carbon iri the soil, but carbon sequestration in soil has a finite potential and is non-permanent. Given that carbon sequestration may also be difficult to measure and verify, soil carbon sequestration is a riskier long-term strategy for climate mitigation than direct reduction of carbon emissions. However, improved agricultural management often has a range of other environmental and economic benefits in addition to climate mitigation potential, and this may make attempts to improve soil carbon storage attractive as part of integrated sustainability policies.