The role of sustainable agriculture and renewable-resource management in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and increasing sinks in China and India

Pretty, JN and Ball, AS and Li, XY and Ravindranath, NH (2002) The role of sustainable agriculture and renewable-resource management in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and increasing sinks in China and India. In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical & Engineering Sciences, 360 (1797). pp. 1741-1761.

PDF The_role_of_sustainable.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (360kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

This paper contains an analysis of the technical options in agriculture for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and increasing sinks, arising from three distinct mechanisms: (i) increasing carbon sinks in soil organic matter and above-ground biomass; (ii) avoiding carbon emissions from farms by reducing direct and indirect energy use; and (iii) increasing renewable-energy production from biomass that either substitutes for consumption of fossil fuels or replaces inefficient burning of fuelwood or crop residues, and so avoids carbon emissions, together with use of biogas digesters and improved cookstoves. We then review best-practice sustainable agriculture and renewable-resource-management projects and initiatives in China and India, and analyse the annual net sinks being created by these projects, and the potential market value of the carbon sequestered. We conclude with a summary of the policy and institutional conditions and reforms required for adoption of best sustainability practice in the agricultural sector to achieve the desired reductions in emissions and increases in sinks. A review of 40 sustainable agriculture and renewable-resource-management projects in China and India under the three mechanisms estimated a carbon mitigation potential of 64.8 MtC yr(-1) from 5.5 Mha. The potential income for carbon mitigation is $324 million at $5 per tonne of carbon. The potential exists to increase this by orders of magnitude, and so contribute significantly to greenhouse-gas abatement. Most agricultural mitigation options also provide several ancillary benefits. However, there are many technical, financial, policy, legal and institutional barriers to overcome.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical & Engineering Sciences
Publisher:	The Royal Society
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to The Royal Society.
Keywords:	sustainable agriculture;renewable energy;avoided emissions;carbon sequestration;China;India
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	27 Jul 2011 08:11
Last Modified:	27 Jul 2011 08:11
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/39495

Actions (login required)

View Item