Management strategies carbon

• Wetlands


  • Include freshwater marshes, salt marshes, peatlands, floodplains, mangroves
  • Permanently saturated
  • Occupy 6-97% of land surface & contain 3.5% of terrestrial carbon pool
• Population growth, economic development and urbanisation

  Pressure on wetlands
• Wetland area has declined by 48% in the US since 1600
• Destruction of wetlands


  Transfers huge amounts of carbon to the atmosphere
• Wetlands are Earth's life support systems
• In the 20th century, the Canadian prairie provinces lost the last 20% of their wetlands
• Wetlands store carbon


  Average 3.25 tonnes C/ha/year
• Benefits of wetland protection and restoration

  • Biodiversity conservation
  • Flood control
  • Groundwater recharge
  • Climate change mitigation
  • Drought prevention
• Afforestation


  1. Planting trees in deforested or never-forested areas

  2. 45% of carbon stored on land is tied up in forests

  3. Helps reduce atmospheric CO2 levels and combat climate change
• Humans release 9 billion tonnes of carbon by burning fossil fuels
• Protecting forests from loggers, farmers and miners is an inexpensive way to curb emissions
• REDD scheme helps conserve rainforests
• Ethiopia launched a 1 billion tree planting project in 2019, planting 350 million tree seedlings in one day, aiming for 1 billion trees by October 2019
• Trees


  • Help maintain water cycle
  • Keep soil moist
  • Reduce flooding
  • Increase evapotranspiration
  • Help cool Earth's surface by reducing greenhouse effect
• Unsustainable agricultural practices


  • Overcultivation
  • Excessive intensification
  • Overgrazing
  • Soil erosion
  • Release large quantities of carbon to the atmosphere
• Intensive livestock farming produces 100 million tonnes of CH4 per year
• Sustainable agricultural practices


  1. Zero tillage growing crops without ploughing to conserve soil organic content

  2. Poly culture growing annual crops interspersed with break crops to provide year-round ground cover

  3. Leaving crop residues in fields after harvest to provide ground cover

  4. Contour ploughing and terracing on slopes to reduce erosion

  5. Developing new rice strains that grow in drier conditions and produce less CH4

  6. Applying chemicals like ammonium sulphate to inhibit microbial activities that produce CH4

  7. Improving quality of animal feed to reduce enteric fermentation and methane production

  8. Controlling manure decomposition to reduce CH4 emissions
• The Paris 2015 Agreement aims to reduce global CO2 emissions below 60% of 2010 levels by 2030 and keep global warming below 2°C
• The Paris Agreement is not legally binding, with some countries not signing or pulling out midway
• Major CO2 emitters like China and India blame rich countries in Europe, saying they need fossil fuels for industrialisation to improve
• COP28 in Dubai was the first time fossil fuels were mentioned in a COP statement, recognising their role in global heating
• The UK has pledged a net zero emissions target by 2030
• Phrasing of international agreements is not as harsh as it should be, but they are a step towards improvement as solving the problem requires cooperation
• Carbon offsets


  Credits awarded to countries or companies for schemes like afforestation, renewable energy, wetland restoration, bought to compensate for excessive emissions elsewhere
• Carbon trading


  Businesses allocated annual quotas for CO2 emissions, can trade credits if they emit less than their quota, must purchase additional credits or pay penalties if they exceed their quota