Enhancing carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change

By Venter Mwongera

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing humanity today. The evidence is clear – greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are causing the earth’s climate to warm at an unprecedented rate.

While reducing emissions is critical to mitigating climate change, we must also consider the potential of enhancing carbon sequestration to help offset the emissions that cannot be avoided. In this opinion piece, I argue that enhancing carbon sequestration is an essential component of any effective strategy to mitigate climate change.

Carbon sequestration is the process by which carbon is removed from the atmosphere and stored in soil, vegetation, and other organic matter. Enhanced carbon sequestration refers to deliberate actions that increase the amount of carbon that is stored in these systems.

The potential for enhanced carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change is significant. A study published in Nature estimated that increased carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems could mitigate up to 25% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

Strategies to enhance carbon sequestration

There are many strategies that can be used to enhance carbon sequestration. One of the most promising is agroforestry, which involves integrating trees into agricultural landscapes. Agroforestry can increase carbon storage in soil and vegetation while providing a range of other benefits, including improved soil health, increased biodiversity, and enhanced food security.

A study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters found that agroforestry has the potential to sequester significant amounts of carbon in the tropics and subtropics, where many of the world’s agricultural landscapes are located.

Further, enhancing carbon sequestration could be possible through the restoration of degraded ecosystems. Degraded lands, such as abandoned agricultural fields and degraded forests, have lost much of their carbon storage capacity.

However, restoration efforts can help to recover this capacity. A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change found that restoration of degraded lands has the potential to sequester up to 1 billion tons of carbon per year, equivalent to about 3% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

Enhancing carbon sequestration is not a silver bullet for mitigating climate change. We must continue to prioritize reducing greenhouse gas emissions through other means, such as transitioning to renewable energy and improving energy efficiency.

Enhancing carbon sequestration also has the potential to provide important co-benefits beyond mitigating climate change. For example, a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that increasing soil organic carbon in agricultural systems can improve soil health, increase crop yields, and enhance water retention.

Another study published in the journal Science found that agroforestry can help to conserve biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services, such as pollination and pest control.

Challenges to enhancing carbon sequestration

However, there are also challenges to enhancing carbon sequestration that must be addressed. Some of these challenges are;

1. Lack of funding and policy support: A lack of funding and policy support for carbon sequestration initiatives. Governments and other stakeholders must prioritize and invest in such projects by implementing policies and funding mechanisms that support these initiatives, for example, carbon pricing and payments for ecosystem services.
2. Technical capacity and knowledge among stakeholders: A need for technical capacity and knowledge among stakeholders. Farmers and landowners must have the knowledge and skills needed to implement carbon sequestration practices effectively. Investing in knowledge dissemination mechanisms, such as extension services and farmer field schools, can help to ensure that stakeholders have the knowledge and skills they need to implement these practices effectively.
3. Land use changes: Land use changes can have a significant impact on carbon sequestration. For example, deforestation and the conversion of grasslands to croplands can lead to a decrease in carbon sequestration. Addressing this challenge requires implementing policies and practices that promote sustainable land use, such as agroforestry. Such an intervention can help to increase carbon sequestration while also providing important co-benefits like improved soil health and increased biodiversity.
4. Scale of implementation: Enhancing carbon sequestration must be done at scale to have a meaningful impact on mitigating climate change. This requires a significant amount of investment and collaboration among stakeholders. Governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders must work together to implement carbon sequestration projects at scale.

Addressing challenges to enhancing carbon sequestration

To address these challenges, governments and other stakeholders must prioritize and invest in carbon sequestration projects. Some of the solutions could be;

1. Funding and policy support: Governments and other stakeholders can prioritize and invest in carbon sequestration projects by implementing policies and funding mechanisms that support initiatives such as carbon pricing and payments for ecosystem services. Governments can also establish policies that incentivize sustainable land use practices that promote carbon sequestration, such as agroforestry.
2. Technical capacity and knowledge among stakeholders: Providing training and education to smallholder farmers and landowners on the benefits and implementation of carbon sequestration practices can help to ensure that stakeholders have the knowledge and skills they need to implement these practices effectively. Investing in knowledge dissemination mechanisms can also help to promote the widespread adoption of these practices.
3. Land use changes: Implementing policies and practices that promote sustainable land use, such as agroforestry, can help to increase carbon sequestration while also providing important co-benefits such as improved soil health and increased biodiversity. Governments can also establish protected areas to promote the conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems that are important for carbon sequestration.
4. The scale of implementation: Governments, NGOs, and other stakeholders can work together to implement carbon sequestration projects at scale. Collaboration among stakeholders is imperative to addressing the challenges of funding and policy support, technical capacity coupled with knowledge, and land use changes. Governments can establish partnerships with NGOs, the private sector, and local communities to implement carbon sequestration projects at scale.

Hence, addressing the challenges to enhancing carbon sequestration will require a significant amount of investment and collaboration among stakeholders.

However, by implementing solutions such as providing funding, policy support, and political goodwill, promoting technical capacity and knowledge, implementing sustainable land use practices, and working together to implement projects at scale, we can not only mitigate climate change but also provide important co-benefits for communities and ecosystems around the world.

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The author is a Communications and Advocacy Specialist, a mentor at the African Women Leaders in Agroecology-Initiative, Chairperson of National and International Engagements at Inter-Sectoral Forum on Agrobiodiversity and Agroecology (ISFAA),and Treasurer of the Board at the Association of `media Women in Kenya (AMWIK)