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A carbon sink is a natural or artificial process that "removes a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere". These sinks form an important part of the natural carbon cycle. An overarching term is carbon pool, which is all the places where carbon on Earth can be, i.e. the atmosphere, oceans, soil, plants, and so forth. A carbon sink is a type of carbon pool that has the capability to take up more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases.
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. About 31% of Earth's land surface is covered by forests at present. This is one-third less than the forest cover before the expansion of agriculture, with half of that loss occurring in the last century. Between 15 million to 18 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Bangladesh, are destroyed every year. On average 2,400 trees are cut down each minute. Estimates vary widely as to the extent of deforestation in the tropics. In 2019, nearly a third of the overall tree cover loss, or 3.8 million hectares, occurred within humid tropical primary forests. These are areas of mature rainforest that are especially important for biodiversity and carbon storage.
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from soil by restricting the former term specifically to displaced soil.
No-till farming is an agricultural technique for growing crops or pasture without disturbing the soil through tillage. No-till farming decreases the amount of soil erosion tillage causes in certain soils, especially in sandy and dry soils on sloping terrain. Other possible benefits include an increase in the amount of water that infiltrates into the soil, soil retention of organic matter, and nutrient cycling. These methods may increase the amount and variety of life in and on the soil. While conventional no-tillage systems use herbicides to control weeds, organic systems use a combination of strategies, such as planting cover crops as mulch to suppress weeds.
Forestation is a vital ecological process where forests are established and grown through afforestation and reforestation efforts. Afforestation involves planting trees on previously non-forested lands, while reforestation focuses on replanting trees in areas that were once deforested. This process plays an important role in restoring degraded forests, enhancing ecosystems, promoting carbon sequestration, and biodiversity conservation.
The pedosphere is the outermost layer of the Earth that is composed of soil and subject to soil formation processes. It exists at the interface of the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. The pedosphere is the skin of the Earth and only develops when there is a dynamic interaction between the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere and the hydrosphere. The pedosphere is the foundation of terrestrial life on Earth.
Soil fertility refers to the ability of soil to sustain agricultural plant growth, i.e. to provide plant habitat and result in sustained and consistent yields of high quality. It also refers to the soil's ability to supply plant/crop nutrients in the right quantities and qualities over a sustained period of time. A fertile soil has the following properties:
Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees (forestation) in an area where there was no recent tree cover. In comparison, reforestation means re-establishing forest that have either been cut down or lost due to natural causes, such as fire, storm, etc. There are three types of afforestation: Natural regeneration, agroforestry and tree plantations. Afforestation has many benefits. In the context of climate change, afforestation can be helpful for climate change mitigation through the route of carbon sequestration. Afforestation can also improve the local climate through increased rainfall and by being a barrier against high winds. The additional trees can also prevent or reduce topsoil erosion, floods and landslides. Finally, additional trees can be a habitat for wildlife, and provide employment and wood products.
Carbon sequestration is the process of storing carbon in a carbon pool. It plays a crucial role in limiting climate change by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. There are two main types of carbon sequestration: biologic and geologic.
Soil respiration refers to the production of carbon dioxide when soil organisms respire. This includes respiration of plant roots, the rhizosphere, microbes and fauna.
Soil carbon is the solid carbon stored in global soils. This includes both soil organic matter and inorganic carbon as carbonate minerals. It is vital to the soil capacity in our ecosystem. Soil carbon is a carbon sink in regard to the global carbon cycle, playing a role in biogeochemistry, climate change mitigation, and constructing global climate models. Natural variation such as organisms and time has affected the management of carbon in the soils. The major influence has been that of human activities which has caused a massive loss of soil organic carbon. An example of human activity includes fire which destroys the top layer of the soil and the soil therefore get exposed to excessive oxidation.
The environmental impact of agriculture is the effect that different farming practices have on the ecosystems around them, and how those effects can be traced back to those practices. The environmental impact of agriculture varies widely based on practices employed by farmers and by the scale of practice. Farming communities that try to reduce environmental impacts through modifying their practices will adopt sustainable agriculture practices. The negative impact of agriculture is an old issue that remains a concern even as experts design innovative means to reduce destruction and enhance eco-efficiency. Though some pastoralism is environmentally positive, modern animal agriculture practices tend to be more environmentally destructive than agricultural practices focused on fruits, vegetables and other biomass. The emissions of ammonia from cattle waste continue to raise concerns over environmental pollution.
John D. Hamaker (1914–1994), was an American mechanical engineer, ecologist, agronomist and science writer in the fields of soil regeneration, rock dusting, mineral cycles, climate cycles and glaciology.
Soil management is the application of operations, practices, and treatments to protect soil and enhance its performance. It includes soil conservation, soil amendment, and optimal soil health. In agriculture, some amount of soil management is needed both in nonorganic and organic types to prevent agricultural land from becoming poorly productive over decades. Organic farming in particular emphasizes optimal soil management, because it uses soil health as the exclusive or nearly exclusive source of its fertilization and pest control.
A peatland is a type of wetland whose soils consist of organic matter from decaying plants, forming layers of peat. Peatlands arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, due to water-logging and subsequent anoxia. Like coral reefs, peatlands are unusual landforms that derive mostly from biological rather than physical processes, and can take on characteristic shapes and surface patterning.
The Japanese temperate rainforest is well sustained and maintains a high biodiversity. One method that has been utilized in maintaining the health of forests in Japan has been afforestation. The Japanese government and private businesses have set up multiple projects to plant native tree species in open areas scattered throughout the country. This practice has resulted in shifts in forest structure and a healthy temperate rainforest that maintains a high biodiversity.
Regenerative agriculture is a conservation and rehabilitation approach to food and farming systems. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil.
Deforestation is a primary contributor to climate change, and climate change affects the health of forests. Land use change, especially in the form of deforestation, is the second largest source of carbon dioxide emissions from human activities, after the burning of fossil fuels. Greenhouse gases are emitted from deforestation during the burning of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon. Global models and national greenhouse gas inventories give similar results for deforestation emissions. As of 2019, deforestation is responsible for about 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation are accelerating.
Soil regeneration, as a particular form of ecological regeneration within the field of restoration ecology, is creating new soil and rejuvenating soil health by: minimizing the loss of topsoil, retaining more carbon than is depleted, boosting biodiversity, and maintaining proper water and nutrient cycling. This has many benefits, such as: soil sequestration of carbon in response to a growing threat of climate change, a reduced risk of soil erosion, and increased overall soil resilience.
Regenerative cacao is defined as cacao that is produced on a farm that employs regenerative agriculture and agroforestry methods. It is most closely associated with the Ecuadorian chocolate company To’ak, the organic food supplier Navitas, the rainforest conservation organization TMA, and the social-agricultural enterprise Terra Genesis. Cacao is the raw material that is used to produce chocolate.
References
- 1 2 Pershouse, Didi (30 November 2020). "Why Communities Should Invest in Regenerative Agriculture and the Soil Sponge".
The soil sponge (or "soil carbon sponge") is a living matrix that soaks up, stores, and filters water; holds landscapes in place; and provides nutrients for an entire food chain, from what would otherwise be bare rock, hardened clay, and desert sands and the sand is soil carbon sponge.
- ↑ "Fungi fights forest fire and builds the Global Carbon Soil Sponge". 10 January 2021.
The Soil Carbon Sponge is porous, well-aggregated soil rich in plant roots, diverse life forms, nutrient availability, air, and often holding lots of water.
- ↑ "Enrich the soil, cool the planet – The Berkshire Edge". September 2, 2019.
In his 2017 paper "Regenerate Earth" for Healthy Soils Australia, now Regenerate Earth.org, Jehne draws his reader's attention to the capacity for healthy soils to cool the planet by restoring the water cycle and sequestering carbon."
- 1 2 3 Jehne, Walter. "Regenerate Earth" (PDF). www.regenerate-earth.org. p. 12.
This mixture of mineral and organic detritus and air (with vast exposed surface areas) formed the Earth's soil carbon sponge with its greatly enhanced capacity to infiltrate and retain rain, enhance access to essential nutrients, and support a diverse range of microbial processes.
- 1 2 Lancaster, Brad (2020). "Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond" (2 ed.).
- ↑ Melillo, Jerry; Gribkoff, Elizabeth (2021). "Soil-Based Carbon Sequestration". MIT.
- 1 2 Suganuma, H.; Egashira, Y.; Utsugi, H.; Kojima, T. (July 2012). "Estimation of CO2 reduction amount by arid land afforestation in Western Australia". 2012 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. pp. 7216–7219. doi:10.1109/IGARSS.2012.6351997. ISBN 978-1-4673-1159-5. S2CID 31123240.
- ↑ Wright, Jonathon S.; Fu, Rong; Worden, John R.; Chakraborty, Sudip; Clinton, Nicholas E.; Risi, Camille; Sun, Ying; Yin, Lei (August 2017). "Rainforest-initiated wet season onset". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 114 (32): 8481–8486. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1621516114 . PMC 5558997 . PMID 28729375.