UN Climate Change Conference: Biochar present at the Bali Conference
Christoph Steiner, to Terra Preta Discussion List, November

I was hoping that biochar finds a hearing at the UN climate change conference in Bali. I am very glad that biochar got two hours in Bali:
December 13, 13:00-15:00, Bali International Convention Center
biochar.org Events

Theme UNCCD: Sustainable Land Management for Adaptation to Climate Change

Welcome Statement: Executive secretary of the UNCCD

Keynote Statement: President of the UNCCD COP

Presenters:

* Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Zech; University of Bayreuth


An overview of naturally occurring soil carbon, its depletion and how to redress this trend. The origin of Terra Preta soils and how their replication could have the most significant impact on the achievement of the targets of the World Food Summit.

* Dr. Christoph Steiner; University of Georgiai

Soil charcoal amendments: maintaining soil fertility, reducing soil vulnerability, and establishing a carbon sink

* Goodspeed Kopolo; UNCCD

Harnessing the results in a sustainable loop that enhances adaptation to and mitigation of climate change effort in synergistic ways that also help achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

* Alejandro Kilpatrick (tbc); Global Mechanism

Possible Funding sources for soil charcoal amendment programmes, and for mitigation of land degradation in general.

Comment to bioenergy with carbon storage (BECS)
Christoph Steiner, to the Terra Preta Discussion List, November 8, 2007


Carbon-negative bioenergy to cut global warming could drive deforestation:
An interview on BECS with Biopact’s Laurens Rademakers Mongabay.com (November 6, 2007) http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1106-carbon-negative_becs.html


The article on mongabay.com deals about a proposed mechanism for generating carbon-negative bioenergy. Bioenergy with carbon storage (BECS) holds out the prospect of reducing CO2 from the atmosphere while producing carbon-negative energy. The article provides an informative introduction on how “carbon-negativity” is feasible and assumes geosequestration (developed from the “clean coal” industry,
CO2 capture in depleted oil and gas fields, saline aquifers etc.) as the sequestering tool. Laurens Rademakers delineates the risks such as deforestation of tropical rainforests and leakage of geosequestration. In addition these technologies require vast capital inputs and large scale projects.


A substantive difference of bio-energy to fossil-energy allows Charcoal Carbon Capture!
Geosequestration and carbon capture technologies are currently being developed by the coal industry in order to produce the so-called “clean coal”. Using this technology, the coal industry can at best reduce its CO2 emissions, while using re-growing biomass would establish a carbon sink. This substantive difference allows bio-energy (energy from re-growing biomass) production systems to apply yet another way to capture carbon – Charcoal Carbon Sequestration! Bio-energy with charcoal carbon sequestration (BECCS) would only capture a maximum of 50% of the carbon stored in the biomass but offers the following
advantages:


1)Decentralized and small scale projects are feasible


2)Large capital investments are not necessary. The technologies range from small cooking stoves to large bioenergy production units. No carbon capture technology is necessary as charcoal is a byproduct of gasification. As price for the incomplete gasification a proportion of the energy (geosequestration demands energy too) is invested to capture carbon in charcoal


3) Biochar (Charcoal used as soil amendment) increases soil fertility and sustainability (important for continuous cropping for energy or food
crops)


4) No risk of harmful CO2 leakage as in systems like geosequestration.
Most scientists agree that the half life of charcoal is in the range of centuries or millennia.


5) Only re-growing resources can establish a carbon sink. Tropical Rainforest is not considered as re-growing resource in a BECCS scenario.


An access to the C trade market holds out the prospect to reduce deforestation of primary forest, because using intact primary forest would reduce the C credits. The estimated above-ground biomass of unlogged forests is around 400 Mg ha 1, about half of which is C. This C is lost at a high percentage if used for gasification and only < 50% is captured by BECCS. The C trade could provide an incentive to cease further deforestation; instead reforestation and recuperation of degraded land for fuel and food crops would gain magnitude.

The Charcoalab Kit
Christelle H Braun, Naomi Luckett, Christoph Steiner, Robert Flanagan October 26, 2007
Charcoalab Kit The Charcoalab Kit contains:
- 6 pots
- 3 baggies of rice hull, temperature specific charcoal
- Litmus paper

Due to issues with posting seeds, we are asking participants to source their own seeds and to inform us about seeds species and origin (if they come from a commercial source...maybe a picture of the packet?).

The kits are being distributed by Naomi from New Zealand.

I attach to this mail the instructions for the Charcaoalab Kit, which you can also download on the website:
http://bionecho.org/charcoalab/teachers.php

For any other information, please send your request to:
charcoalab@yahoo.com

Thanks for your interest, your are welcome to participate!

Sincerely yours,
The Charcoalab Team

 

See also the Charcoalab Project Pot Trials

The Charcoalab Projecti: Charcoalab Pot Trials

Robert Flanagan, SAFFE, China, Christelle Braun, Naomi, September 4, 2007

Select image to access album of photos.

Slash and Char as Alternative to Slash and Burn: soil charcoal amendments maintain soil fertility and establish a carbon sink
Christoph Steiner, www.biochar.org Summary of Dissertation, Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Geosciences University of Bayreuth, Germany, Institute of Soil Science and Soil Geography, University of Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany (email: Christoph.Steiner@uni-bayreuth.de)

ABSTRACT

Introduction

www.biochar.org - balance carbon and restore soil fertility
Christoph Steiner, Germany

Charcoal as Soil Conditioner: Studies in the humid Tropics
Christoph Steiner1, W. G. Teixeira2, J. Lehmann3and W. Zech1, U Georgia TP 2004

Long term Effects of manure, charcoal and mineral fertilization on crop production and fertility on a highly weathered Central Amazonian upland soil January 2007
Christoph Steiner · Wenceslau G. Teixeira · Johannes Lehmann ·Thomas Nehls · Jeferson Luis Vasconcelos de Macêdo · Winfried E. H. Blum · Wolfgang Zech

Abstract

Slash and Char as an Alternative to Slash and Burn
Christoph Steiner, Christoph Steiner, University of Bayteuth, Germany, Manaus, Brasil, 2002

Studies on the Human Impact on Forests and Floodplains in the Tropics (SHIFT)

Soil charcoal amendments maintain soil fertility and create a carbon sink

Aims:
• Reduce nutrient loss through burning and leaching
• Develop a sustainable agricultural practice for the tropics
• Reduce CO2 emissions in agriculture

Hypotheses: