Biochar Utilization as a Forestry Climate-Smart Tool

Carlos Rodriguez Franco (), Deborah S. Page-Dumroese, Derek Pierson and Timothy Nicosia
Additional contact information
Carlos Rodriguez Franco: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington Office. Research and Development 201, 14th Street, S.W., 2 NW, Washington, DC 20250, USA
Deborah S. Page-Dumroese: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 1221 S. Main, Moscow, ID 83843, USA
Derek Pierson: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 1221 S. Main, Moscow, ID 83843, USA
Timothy Nicosia: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 240 West Prospect Road, Fort Collins, CO 80526, USA

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: Carbon (C) in gaseous form is a component of several greenhouse gases emitted during the combustion of fossil fuels. C movement between the atmosphere, land (biosphere and lithosphere), and ocean (hydrosphere) alters the total amount in each pool. Human activities accelerate C movement into the atmosphere, causing increases in temperature. This shift from terrestrial and oceanic C pools to the atmosphere causes an increase in the intensity, frequency, and duration of catastrophic climate disturbances. Although society hears and reads about C emissions, there is a lack of understanding of its importance and the need to decrease it in the atmospheric pool to avoid exacerbating climate change. Forests and biochar are two biological methods to retain C in the terrestrial pool for a long time and at a very low cost. However, forest harvesting, the use of woody biomass as a source of renewable C for different applications, and the relationship with decreasing C emissions have created a highly controversial topic among governments, the scientific community, society in general, and social groups. The main objective of this review is to highlight the importance of C, forests, and biochar, including the benefits of C sequestration to decrease the impacts of climate change and promote sustainable forests and healthy soils in the future. The main findings show strong evidence that climate-smart forest management practices are an efficient option for managing C and increasing C stocks. This review suggests that forest management mitigation actions are another efficient C management approach with high potential. The findings show that biochar is a climate-smart tool that contributes to climate change mitigation by increasing soil carbon sequestration and reducing soil GHG emissions, including other associated benefits.

Keywords: carbon; climate change; sequestration; mitigation; biochar (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/5/1714/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/5/1714/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:5:p:1714-:d:1341807

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().