carbon sinks Archives - Resilient Landscapes

Global Wetlands Map: Help us map the world’s wetlands

Wetlands play a fundamental role in climate change mitigation, and provide essential ecosystem services. Yet there is still a lot we don’t know about their precise distribution, extent and inter-annual variability around the world, particularly in the tropics.

Global Wetlands Map Help us map the world’s wetlands The Global Wetlands Map is a new initiative to collect and share information on tropical wetlands in a visual format. Users can access data and contribute their own, using standard geographic information systems software such as ArcGIS.

How have carbon stocks in central and southern Africa’s miombo woodlands changed over the last 50 years? A systematic map of the evidence

Miombo woodlands cover ~ 2.7 million km2 of central and southern Africa between dry (650 mm mean annual rainfall) and moist miombo (1400 mm) and are currently threatened by land use and land cover changes that have intensified over the last 50 years. Despite the miombo’s global significance for carbon (C) storage and sequestration, there has been no regional synthesis that maps carbon stocks and changes in the woodlands. This information is crucial to inform further research for the development of appropriate policies and management strategies to maintain and increase C stocks and sequestration capacity, for conservation and sustainable management. We assembled a systematic map to determine what evidence exists for (1) changes in carbon stocks in miombo woodlands over the period 1960–2015; (2) differences in carbon density in miombo with different conservation status; (3) trends in carbon stock recovery following human disturbance; and (4) fire management impacts on carbon stocks and dynamics.

Targeting Landscapes to Identify Mitigation Options in Smallholder Agriculture

This chapter presents a method for targeting landscapes with the objective of assessing mitigation options for smallholder agriculture. It presents alternatives in terms of the degree of detail and complexity of the analysis, to match the requirement of research and development initiatives. We address heterogeneity in land-use decisions that is linked to the agroecological characteristics of the landscape and to the social and economic profiles of the land users. We believe that as projects implement this approach, and more data become available, the method will be refined to reduce costs and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of mitigation in smallholder agriculture. The approach is based on the assumption that landscape classifications reflect differences in land productivity and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and can be used to scale up point or field-level measurements. At local level, the diversity of soils and land management can be meaningfully summarized using a suitable typology. Field types reflecting small-scale fertility gradients are correlated to land quality, land productivity and quite likely to GHG emissions. A typology can be a useful tool to connect farmers’ fields to landscape units because it represents the inherent quality of the land and human-induced changes, and connects the landscape to the existing socioeconomic profiles of smallholders. The method is explained using a smallholder system from western Kenya as an example.

Introduction to the SAMPLES Approach

This chapter explains the rationale for greenhouse gas emission estimation in tropical developing countries and why guidelines for smallholder farming systems are needed. It briefly highlights the innovations of the SAMPLES approach and explains how these advances fill a critical gap in the available quantification guidelines. The chapter concludes by describing how to use the guidelines.

Methods for Measuring Greenhouse Gas Balances and Evaluating Mitigation Options in Smallholder Agriculture

This book provides standards and guidelines for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions and removals in smallholder agricultural systems and comparing options for climate change mitigation based on emission reductions and livelihood trade-offs. Globally, agriculture is directly responsible for about 11% of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and induces an additional 17% through land use change, mostly in developing countries. Farms in the developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are predominately managed by smallholders, with 80% of land holdings smaller than ten hectares. However, little to no information exists on greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation potentials in smallholder agriculture. Greenhouse gas measurements in agriculture are expensive, time consuming, and error prone, challenges only exacerbated by the heterogeneity of smallholder systems and landscapes. Concerns over methodological rigor, measurement costs, and the diversity of approaches, coupled with the demand for robust information suggest it is germane for the scientific community to establish standards of measurements for quantifying GHG emissions from smallholder agriculture. Standard guidelines for use by scientists, development organizations will help generate reliable data on emissions baselines and allow rigorous comparisons of mitigation options. The guidelines described in this book, developed by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) and partners, are intended to inform anyone conducting field measurements of agricultural greenhouse gas sources and sinks, especially to develop IPCC Tier 2 emission factors or to compare mitigation options in smallholder systems.

Scaling Point and Plot Measurements of Greenhouse Gas Fluxes, Balances, and Intensities to Whole Farms and Landscapes

In this chapter, we first discuss the necessity and underlying premise of scaling and scaling methods. Almost all cases of agricultural GHG emissions and carbon (C) stock change research relies on disaggregated data, either spatially or by farming activity, as a fundamental input of scaling. Therefore, we then assess the utility of using empirical and process-based models with disaggregated data, specifically concentrating on the opportunities and challenges for their application to diverse smallholder farming systems in tropical regions. We describe key advancements needed to improve the confidence in results from these scaling methods in the future.

Soil carbon stocks in planted woodlots and Ngitili systems in Shinyanga, Tanzania

Effects of Prosopis juliflora invasions on land use/ cover change detections in South Afar, Northeast Ethiopia

Relationship between carbon stocks and tree species diversity in a humid Guinean savanna landscape in northern Sierra Leone

Global sustainable development goals include reducing greenhouse gas emissions from land-use change and maintaining biodiversity. Many studies have examined carbon stocks and tree species diversity, but few have studied the humid Guinean savanna ecosystem. This study focuses on a humid savanna landscape in northern Sierra Leone, aiming to assess carbon stocks and tree species diversity and compare their relationships in different vegetation types. We surveyed 160 sample plots (0.1 ha) in the field for tree species, aboveground carbon (AGC) and soil organic carbon (SOC). In total, 90 tree species were identified in the field. Gmelina arborea, an exotic tree species common in the foothills of the Kuru Hills Forest Reserve, and Combretum glutinosum, Pterocarpus erinaceous and Terminaria glaucescens, which are typical savanna trees, were the most common species. At landscape level, the mean AGC stock was 29.4 Mg C ha−1 (SD 21.3) and mean topsoil (0–20 cm depth) SOC stock was 42.2 Mg C ha−1 (SD 20.6). Mean tree species richness and Shannon index per plot were 7 (SD 4) and 1.6 (SD 0.6), respectively. Forests and woodlands had significantly higher mean AGC and tree species richness than bushland, wooded grassland or cropland (p < 0.05). In the forest and bushland, a small number of large diameter trees covered a large portion of the total AGC stocks. Furthermore, a moderate linear correlation was observed between AGC and tree species richness (r = 0.475, p < 0.001) and AGC and Shannon index (r = 0.375, p < 0.05). The correlation between AGC and SOC was weak (r = 0.17, p < 0.05). The results emphasise the role of forests and woodlands and large diameter trees in retaining AGC stocks and tree species diversity in the savanna ecosystem.

Effects of Prosopis juliflora Invasions on land use/cover change in South Afar region, Northeast Ethiopia

Prosopis juliflora(henceforth referred as Prosopis) plant is an invasive species affecting the health of rangelands in Afar region of Ethiopia. The study aims to assess (1) the effects of Prosopisinvasion on land use land cover (henceforth referred to LULC), and (2) extent of vegetation cover changes. We used a combination of remote sensing data and field observations to analyze the effects Prosopisinvasion on land use/ land cover dynamics and changes (LULCC) for the patterns and dynamics of land-use/cover changes for 31 years from 1986 to2017 in the arid and semi-arid of Sothern Afar rangelands, Ethiopia. The overall accuracy for 1986, 2000, and 2017 were 81.4%, 82.3%, and 84.9% with Kappa statistics of 0.77, 0.79, and 0.82 respectively. InAmibara district, farmlands, water bodies, land under Prosopis, and grassland areas were increased during 1986-2017 by 1879 ha (10.8%), 1197 ha (55.6%), 3132 ha (99.0 %), and 31,039 ha (22.0 %), respectively. However, bare lands and woodlands areas were decreased by 1239 ha (56.7 %) and 36,065 ha (49.9 %), respectively. In Awash Fentale district, changes in land use/land cover types showed positive trends for farmlands, water bodies, Prosopis, and grazing lands by 4258 ha (81.4 %), 1035 ha (97.4 %), 2335 ha (97.0 %), and 18,187 ha (25.8 %) respectively in the same period. However, bare lands and woodland areas decreased by 59.78 ha (59.8 %) and 51 ha (50.9 %), respectively. If the present change continues, pastoralists grazing lands will be lost.

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