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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

Sustainable and Resilient Soil Management in Climate Context

Carbon Management and Sequestration CenterDr. Rattan Lal

Morocco

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

THE AFRICAN DILEMMA

It is ironic that Africa; despite vast endowments of natural resources comprising of a wide range of climates/biomes/soils and human capital; and with capacity to be a bread basket of the world by creating the so-called "Cerrado Miracle" within its own savannas and steppes; cannot even feed itself. This is the dilemma that the AAA initiative to proposed at COP22 must address.

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

0.221950

0.281960

0.361970

0.4819800.63

1990

0.812000

1.12015

1.32020

1.72030

2.12040

2.52050

4.42100

POPULATION OFAFRICA

0.111800

0.111850

0.131900 0.13

1910 0.141920

0.161930

0.201940

I = P x A x T

P = PopulationA = AffluenceT = Technology

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

MAIZE YIELD GAP IN AFRICA

Region

Grain Yield (Mg/ha)

Potential Average Gap

Western Kenya 3.7 1.7 2.0

Tropical Lowland 4.5 0.7 3.8

Mid-AltitudeSub-Tropical 7 2.5 4.5

Lobell et al. (2009)

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

SUSPENDED SEDIMENT TRANSPORT AND SOIL EROSION IN THE MAGHREB(PROBST AND SUCHET, 2016)

Watershed/RegionSuspended Sediment

Yield (Mg/km2.yr)Suspended Sediment Discharge (106Mg/yr)

Atlantic Ocean 613 152Mediterranean Sea 397 100Total Maghreb 504 252

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

LAND AREA EQUIPPED FOR IRRIGATION

FAO (2015)

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01961 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

Year

Land

Are

a Eq

uipp

ed fo

r Irri

gatio

n (M

ha)

400

300

200

100

40

30

20

India: Cropland = 163

World: Cropland = 1450

Africa: Cropland = 300

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

Area Equipped for Irrigation 2.1 3.5

IRRIGATION POTENTIAL AND USE IN AFRICAIRRIGATION POTENTIAL AND USE IN AFRICA(FAOSTAT,2012)

Irrigation Potential 45.1 45.1

Area Under Actual Irrigation 1.9 1.7

StatusStatus

Area (106ha)Area (106ha)

20072007 20112011

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

02006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Year

Ferti

lizer

Con

sum

ptio

n (k

g/ha

of c

ropl

and)

COMPARATIVE FERTILIZER CONSUMPTION IN INDIA, SUB-SAHARANAFRICA AND THE WORLD

World

Sub-Saharan Africa

India

World Bank (2015)

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

SDG-TARGET 2.4

"By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality."

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

SDG-TARGET 15.3

"By 2020. combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation neutral world."

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

ECONOMICS OF RESIDUE REMOVAL FOR BIOFUEL

“Soil biota is the bioengine of the Earth”

Thereisnosuchthingasafreebiofuelfromcropresidues.

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

• Extractive Farming/Subsistence

• Depletion of SOC and Nutrients• Decline in Soil Structure

• Loss of Soil Resilience

• Decline in EcosystemFunctions and Services

• Loss of Soil biodiversity• Disruption of Key Processes

• Hunger• Malnutrition• Political Unrest• Civil Strife• War and insecurity• 65 Million Refugees in 2016

Severe Degradation

THE REGIME SHIFT BYEXTRACTIVE FARMING

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

RESILIENCE OF SOIL-ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

It has multiple regimes (stable states) which are separated by thresholds

Thresholds

Critical Threshold

The current state of the system

Possible states in which the system can still have the same function Irreversible

Degradation

Resilience

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

The strategy is to produce more crops:

• from less land,• per drop of water,• per unit input of fertilizers

and pesticides,• per unit of energy, and• per unit of C emission.

Produce morefrom less

SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

SUSTAINABLE SOIL MANAGEMENT

• Replace what is removed,

• Respond wisely to what is changed, and

• Predict what will happen from anthropogenicand natural perturbations

• Enhance soil resilience

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

The strategy is to produce more crops:

• from less land,• per drop of water,• per unit input of fertilizers

and pesticides,• per unit of energy, and• per unit of C emission.

Produce morefrom less

SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

Accelerated erosion

Innovative Technology II

Innovative Technology ISubsistence

farming, none or low off-farm

input soil degradation

New equilibrium

Adoption of RMPs

Time (Yrs)Lal, 2004

80

100

20

40 60 80 100 120 140 160

40

60

20

Rel

ativ

e So

il C

Poo

l

0

Maximum Potential

RateΔY

ΔX

Attainable Potential

C Sink C

apacity

Δt

•Conservation Agriculture

•Biochar•Agroforestry•Desert. Control• Afforestation• Pasture Mgmt•H2O harv., DSI•Farming Systems

MRT = PoolFlux

SOIL C SEQUESTRATION

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Carbon Management and Sequestration Center

A HEALTHY AND AN ECO-EFFICIENT SOIL

WaterCarbon

NitrogenPhosphorous

Sulfur

WaterCarbon

NitrogenPhosphorous

Sulfur