http://www.theland.com.au/news/agriculture/general/news/carbon-farmings-added-benefits/2673768.aspx?storypage=0
Carbon farming's added benefits 07 Oct, 2013 04:00 AM 'BEST practice' carbon farming that considers more than just the carbon in trees is vital for farmers, landholders, and the community, according to CSIRO research. CSIRO-led research confirms that tree plantings in rural lands can provide a stream of other benefits to farmers, local communities and the environment as well as having significant potential to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Schemes which offer economic incentives for growing trees for carbon also present an opportunity to restore ecosystem services - such as pest control, pollination, soil and water conservation - providing important benefits to farmers, said CSIRO's Dr Brenda Lin. "Land-use models show that policies aimed solely at maximising carbon storage may not produce additional agricultural and environmental benefits and may even produce unwanted outcomes for farmers and landowners,” Dr Lin said. Tree removal can disrupt refuges for native insects that control pests and provide pollination. Restoring trees can also provide carbon sequestration, organic matter accumulation and water and soil conservation which are important for sustainable farming and the environment. "The ability of carbon tree plantings to restore some of these other benefits that support agricultural production may be a key factor in encouraging farmers and landholders to take up this type of carbon farming," Dr Lin said. Dr Lin said studies of past revegetation in agricultural landscapes show intensive single-species (or monoculture) plantations can affect water flows in some locations, as well as increasing invasive pests. Monocultures also lead to biodiversity loss, can be fire prone and have poor growth rates. "Poorly located vegetation could reduce the availability of land for food production," Dr Lin said. Alternatively, there are many opportunities for tree plantings, if planned and implemented properly, to provide additional benefits to the farmer beyond just carbon. "By revegetating unused, marginal or degraded cropping land, using multiple species of trees and shrubs, we could see improvements to pest control, pollination and water quality, increased wind protection and reduced soil erosion and salinity," she said. "For example, we know that remnant native vegetation patches that currently persist in agricultural landscapes, if they are well managed and contain few weed species, support a range of insect and spider predators and parasitic wasps that can attack pests of grain crops." The benefits for local communities and the public could include increased water quality, reduced pesticide use, more habitat for species such as birds, and other cultural benefits. The research, published in the American BioScience journal, highlights the need to better understand these private, public and shared benefits and tradeoffs so that future policies and initiatives encourage 'best practice' tree plantings that maximize the positives while also storing carbon. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
