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Soil carbon sequestration rates and associated economic costs for farming systems of south-eastern Australia
- Source :
- Australian Journal of Soil Research. December, 2010, Vol. 48 Issue 8, p720, 10 p.
- Publication Year :
- 2010
-
Abstract
- Soil organic carbon (C) sequestration rates based on the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) methodology were combined with local economic data to simulate the economic potential for C sequestration in response to conservation tillage in the six agro-ecological zones within the Southern Region of the Australian grains industry. The net C sequestration rate over 20 years for the Southern Region (which includes discounting for associated greenhouse gases) is estimated to be 3.6 or 6.3 Mg C/ha after converting to either minimum or no-tillage practices, respectively, with no- till practices estimated to return 75% more carbon on average than minimum tillage. The highest net gains in C per ha are realised when converting from conventional to no-tillage practices in the high-activity clay soils of the High Rainfall and Wimmera agro-ecological zones. On the basis of total area available for change, the Slopes agro-ecological zone offers the highest net returns, potentially sequestering an additional 7.1 Mt C under no-tillage scenario over 20 years. The economic analysis was summarised as C supply curves for each of the 6 zones expressing the total additional C accumulated over 20 years for a price per t C sequestered ranging from zero to AU$200. For a price of $50/Mg C, a total of 427 000 Mg C would be sequestered over 20 years across the Southern Region, Additional keywords: carbon sequestration, conservation tillage, economics, greenhouse gases.<br />Introduction The mass and long residence time of soil organic matter in the terrestrial ecosystems make it a major component of the global carbon cycle (Post et al. 1990). Globally, [...]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00049573
- Volume :
- 48
- Issue :
- 8
- Database :
- Gale General OneFile
- Journal :
- Australian Journal of Soil Research
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsgcl.245036043
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1071/SR10063