Management strategies to protect the global carbon and water cycles.

Wetland Restoration
1. areas where the water table is at or near the surface therefore the ground is permanently saturated.
2. Occupy 6-9% Earth surface
3. Contain 35% of all Terrestrial carbon
4. Can store on average 3.25 tonnes carbon per hector a year
5. Why are wetlands in danger?
  1. population growth economic development and urbanisation have place huge pressure on wetlands. they are drained to make way for new farmland or urban areas releasing huge volumes of C02 and CH4 into the atmosphere as well as reducing biodiversity.
6. huge stores of water too and act as a buffer from the sea
7. climate change and the need to reduce C02 emissions and the 2 degree Celsius temperature rise max target has lead to a re-evaluation on the value of wetlands as vital carbon sinks.
  1. Management initiatives such as the international convention on wetlands (RAMSAR) are focusing on protecting, managing and restoring wetlands. Restoration focuses mainly on raising local water tables to recreate waterlogged conditions.
    1. What is Ramsar?
      1. group of collaborative organisations working together to mange, restore, control and monitor how wetlands are being used as well as assessing the health of the ecosystem.
      2. signed in 1971 in Iran which is where it gets it name from
      3. Almost 90% of UN member states are Ramsar contracting parties
8. Case Studies!
  1. Ballynahone Bog (Northern Ireland) a Ramsar project
    1. one of largest lowland bogs in northern Ireland.
    2. the bog vegetation comprises mainly of sphagnum moss which can hold 20 times its dry weight in water.
    3. Designated a Ramsar site on 31 December 1998
      1. Before this in 1971 a producer of peat for horticulture opened a nearby factory. in 1987 the application was putin to extract peat from Ballynahone bog and in 1991 the peat company dug 13 miles of drains along the southern half of the bog. the bog was drained peat extracted and burned relasing vast quanties of carbon into the atmosphjer both through combustion of extracted carbon and through the oxidation of exposed organic matter.
      2. in 1990 the ulster wildlife trust were active in campaigning against the bog and the destruction of this fragile ecosystem and in 1993 started to campaign to get the area delared as an area of special scientific interest (ASSI). In December 1993 the peat company dammed the drains it had cut in the bog and eventually in January 1995 ballynahine Bog was decleared and ASSI. then Ramasar recognised the bog as a wetland scheme in 1998 and since then has been working in conjuction with the Ulster Wildlife Trust to re-wet the bog and encourage sphagnum moss regeneration.
        the work Ramsar are doing will allow the bog to act as a vast reservoir of water encouraging wildlife to the area and increasing biodiversity. Not only that it will act as a vast carbon sink by absorbing C02 from the atmosphere and locking it up in long term storage though photosynthesis and the anaerobic (without oxygen)conditions in the bog which prevent complete decomposition of material which would otherwise release C02 into the atmosphere.
  2. Eastern Kolkata wetlands
    1. Became a Ramsar site on 19th August 2002
    2. covers an area of 12,500 hectares
      1. World renowned as a model for a multiple use wetland developed by locals through time saving the city the costs of building and maintaining waste water plants.
        sewage is filtered and recycled for use in pisciculture and agriculture. the waste water flows through numerous fish ponds where numerous chemical reactions occur to break down the wastes in this brown water. this is in a carful state of equilibrium where the wetlands work with the farmers to break down wastes and absorb carbon whilst suppling the farmers with 150 tonnes of fresh vegetables daily and some 10,5000 tonnes of fish each year.
        this equilibrium is now under theat due to the uncontrolled illegal use of the wetland by industries to dump industrial waste in the water which can effect the edible nature of the fruit and vegetables and kill wildlife and put the wetland at risk. something Ramasr is cracking down on and helping to maintain the wetlands equilibrium.
        absorbs 60% of carbon from the waste water it encounters that would other wise end up in the atmosphere acting as a vital carbon sink.
        takes care of more than 80% of the cities sewage with 1000million litres of water is filtered into the wetlands each day that filter it and discharge it in the bay of Bengal some four weeks later.
        Ramasr are monitoring extensively the controlled use of the wetlands to treat the cities sewage ensuring under no circumstances the equilibrium is thrown out of balance and the wetlands suffer and die as a result and helping to halter urban encroachment on the vital carbon sequestering wetland.
    3. under threat from new urban developments and expansion of the city
      1. between 1972 and 2011 38.6 km2 have been converted to built up areas.
Afforestation
1. Trees are carbon sinks so afforestation can help to mitigate the increase in atmospheric co2 concentrations ion the mid to long term.
2. Involves planting trees in deforested areas or areas that haven't previously been forested.
3. It also reduces flood risk through the interception of water and reduces soil erosion due to the roots consolidating the soil as well as increasing biodiversity of a variety of trees are replanted.
4. Protecting existing trees from deforestation and forest degradation also helps to mitigate and increase in atmospheric co2 levels and to reduce flood risk and act as both water and carbon stores.
5. Case studies
  1. REDD+ = Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries.
    1. setup in 2005 by UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCC)
    2. How it Works : under REDD industrialised countries pay NEE's and Developing countries to keep there forests standing. in turn they get carbon credits for trying to reduce there GHG emissions which ca later be used on international markets. the NEE's and Developing countries receive the money and in turn can then spend it on afforesting more areas to receive additional carbon credits which can then also be sold and traded on international markets.
    3. REDD Juma Sustainable Development Reserve (Amazon Rainforest)
      1. covers an area of 589,621 hectares of Brazilian Amazon Rainforest
      2. the projects aims to address deforestation and its resulting emission of green house gases in an area of the state of Amazonas that is under great land use pressure. Its implementation in 2003 is part of a wide strategy to halt deforestation and permute sustainable development based on giving vaule to the environmental services provided by its standing forests.
      3. expected to stop the deforestation of 329,483 hectors of tropical rainforest that would release 189 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere o the baseline rate of deforestation up to 2050
      4. communities in the area will receive direct benefits for there contributions to conservation such as access to clean water, healthcare, information, productive activities and other improvements in there quality of life. in addition the financial resources generated by the project will be given to tribal communities in the juma reserve for environmental services.
      5. it will help to maintain the figure that the Amazon rainforest absorbs 2.4 billion tonnes of carbon a year and act as a vital store of water and help to slow down the fluxes of water from the atmosphere to the biosphere helping to mitigate flood risk in the local area.
  2. China Afforestation
    1. massive government sponsored state afforestation program began in 1999 called the Grain for Green Program.
    2. Aims to reforest an area roughly the size of Spain 400,00Km2 by 2050.
    3. this will act as a massive carbon sink sequestering in carbon from the atmosphere and reduces the risk of desertification in the semi arid regions of Northern China due to the water the forest and ground consolidation the forests will provide.
    4. Aims also to cub catastrophic flooding that has occurred recently due to deforestation and the creation of sloped farmland in environmentally sensitive areas.
    5. issues with lack of biodiversity however seems to be a monoculture forest that is being planted mainly bamboo, cedar and eucalyptus providing few habitats for china's most threatened animals. however we have to weigh up the costs of not doing anything and the long term affect this will have on the climate. this new scheme is helping to curb flooding on the local scale and on the global scale is acting as a vita; carbon sink that will hopefully help to mitigate global warming.
Improving Agricultural Practices
1. Why?
  1. Unsustainable practices like overcultivation, overgrazing ,leads to soil erosion, lack of water storage, and large release of co2 into the atmosphere.
  2. Intensive livestock farming produces 100 million tonnes of methane a year a very potent green house gas more so than co2
2. Zero Tillage
  1. growing crops without ploughing the soil. this conserves the soils organic content reducing oxidation of organic matter and therefore release of co2 into the atmosphere and no furrows means slower transfer of water reducing the risk of flooding.
3. Polyculture
  1. Gowing annual crops interspersed with trees for example. this means the forests remain standing absorbing large amounts of co2 the soil remains fertile from the leaf litter provided by the trees giving the annual crops beneath nutrients for growth and protection form intense sunlight. also means the water storage doesn't drop as rapidly as it would if all the trees were deforested.
4. Crop residues
  1. leaving stubble (steams ,leaves ect) on fields after harvesting to provide groundcover and protection from soil erosion as well as giving organic matter and nutrients back into the soil increasing the water storage capacity and maintaining soil fertility.
5. Avoiding the use of heavy machinery on wet soils which leads to soil compaction. as a result increased runoff and increased flood risk as well as more soil erosion due to this surface run off
6. Contour ploughing. Ploughing with the contours like around hiss instead of down them reduces the transfer of water to rivers increasing the lag time and mitigating flood risk. also reduces soil erosion and leakage of carbon into river systems.
7. Genetically modified and new strains of crops
  1. Rice in agriculture is responsible for between 7-17% of human induced methane emissions.
  2. rice paddies are the largest anthropogenic methane source producing over 10% of the methane that we put into the atmosphere. as the climate warms the rice paddies will produce even more methane due to the warmer conditions increasing the rate of methanogenesis from leaked sugars from the roots of the rice plants starting a positive feedback cycle!
  3. Scientists from the university of Uppsala have introduced genes into rice making it store more sugar in its seeds and stems and not in its roots where it easily leaks out .
8. Livestock management
  1. cows produce huge volumes of methane from there burps and farts.
    1. improving agricultural feeds to reduce the amount of fermentation in livestock's stomachs and therefore reducing the amount of methane produced or mixing in methane inhibitors into the food are two solutions being used to reduce the amount of methane emissions from cattle.
    2. NEW Research shows that feeding cows seaweed can cut greenhouse gas emissions from thee burps by as much as 99%! Saw weed is appealing not only because of its gas slashing effects but also because its easy to grow nd the cows seem to like it. more work is being done to try and make this into feeds for cattle in order to get it into mass use.

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Management strategies to protect the global carbon and water cycles.

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	Created by Matthew Vaughan almost 6 years ago