Key Factor #4: The Bridge To The Future

Only agricultural soils can be our “Bridge To The Future” – enabling humanity to transition from confusion and uncertainty to a secure future in which what today are unproven technologies will be known quantities.

Soils can be deployed immediately, but they will reach saturation within 30 years, by which time the other solutions will have reached critical mass.

The convenors of the Carbon Coalition travelled to the United States and interviewed soil experts on the ability of soils to sequester carbon and the means to measure and monitor movements in soil carbon over time. Some of their comments follow.

• “Carbon sequestration in soil and vegetation is a bridge to the future. It buys us time while alternatives to fossil fuel take effect.”- Dr Rattan Lal, Director, Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; Pr ofessor of Soil Science, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, School of Natural Resources, Ohio State University; Liebig Applied Soil Science Award, World Congress of Soil Science 2006

• "Unlike many other technologies to offset fossil fuel emissions, land management for soil carbon sequestration can be implemented immediately, provided there are incentives to do so. An immediate offset of CO2 emissions provides a significant delay in the rise of atmospheric of CO2 concentration. By the time that land management carbon sequestration begins to saturate the soil’s capacity to store additional carbon, other methods of reducing emissions or sequestering carbon may be available or already in use." - Professor Bruce McCarl, Agricultural Economist and Economist, Climate Change, Texas A&M University; Member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

• "Terrestrial C sequestration has immediate application in climate change mitigation due to its availability and relatively low cost." - Professor Charles Rice, Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Director of the Consortium for Agricultural Soils Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases. Dr. Rice is recognized as one of the leading soil microbiologists in the United States.

• “Terrestrial sequestration is here and now. It’s user friendly. It’s easy to do. It can play a critical role in the early stages of our response, ahead of other methods [forestry, geologic burial].” -Dr. John Antle, Professor of Agricultural Economics and Economics at Montana State University, Technical Leader, Economics, BigSky Carbon Sequestration Partnership
As a technique which can be applied with most effect in the first 30 years, the Coalition suggests that the 100 Year Rule be set aside for soils and a 30 year rule be substituted.

The 100 Year Rule is inappropriate for soils because:
• Farmers do not like giving a legal right over their land for 100 years. (The experience of Landcare Carbon Smart is instructive.)
• Farmers are proud of what they have grown and the education they received growing the carbon rich soil will make them disinclined to manage it in a carbon-emitting manner.
• Soil that has saturated with soil carbon is highly productive and drought resistant. It would be highly valued by any new owner.

FOOTNOTES:

(23) “Distribution of Natural Disasters : By Origin, (1900-2005)”, International Strategy For Disaster Reduction, World Meteorological Organisation http://www.unisdr.org/disaster-statistics/occurrence-trends-century.htm
(24) ABC News Sept 25, 2007
25)“Climate threat in military's sights,”, Sydney Morning Herald, May17, 2007