Pursuing drawdown- carbon sequestration potential of arable land in Södertälje by alternative management practices
(2024) In Student thesis series INES NGEK01 20241Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Connected to the ongoing global challenges relating to soil fertility loss and food security, there has been a recent upswing of alternative management practices (AMPs) within the agricultural sector. These methods are often focused on maximising soil health by safeguarding the below ground ecosystem and by increasing soil organic content. Consequently, AMPs tend to build resilience towards disturbances such as erosion or drought while upholding a net gain of carbon as methods leading to the loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) are minimised and the input of biomass is increased. In contemplation of how these benefits can be implemented and evaluated from a nature based solutions point of view, this study aimed to quantify the carbon... (More)
- Connected to the ongoing global challenges relating to soil fertility loss and food security, there has been a recent upswing of alternative management practices (AMPs) within the agricultural sector. These methods are often focused on maximising soil health by safeguarding the below ground ecosystem and by increasing soil organic content. Consequently, AMPs tend to build resilience towards disturbances such as erosion or drought while upholding a net gain of carbon as methods leading to the loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) are minimised and the input of biomass is increased. In contemplation of how these benefits can be implemented and evaluated from a nature based solutions point of view, this study aimed to quantify the carbon sequestration potential of arable land in Södertälje municipality (Sweden) for 6 different AMP scenarios over the course of a decade. This was achieved by utilising base values derived from literature for carbon sequestration per hectare and year for the implementation of cover crops or a combination of cover crops, manure/biomass application and reduced/no tillage to the extent of the study area scenarios, assuming a linear increase in SOC over time. In order to assess whether or not the increase would be detectable, initial SOC content was estimated and compared to the quantified results. The results found that while the change would be unlikely to be detected by sampling, arable land in Södertälje municipality has the potential to sequester approximately 3 000 to 190 000 tonnes over 10 years of carbon depending on AMP scenario. Putting the results into context, this corresponds to around 4-300 percent of the municipal emission reduction target for the same period of time. Main uncertainties of this study are connected to the mean estimations of carbon stock change over time as a function of individual AMPs developed by external literature and experimental reviews. In regards to this, the results are to be viewed as coarse approximates limited by the current state of knowledge rather than absolute. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9176265
- author
- Loos Fahlvik, Gry LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- NGEK01 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- soil organic carbon, drawdown, nature based solutions, alternative management practices, agriculture, soil organic matter, carbon sequestration
- publication/series
- Student thesis series INES
- report number
- 658
- language
- English
- id
- 9176265
- date added to LUP
- 2024-10-07 16:53:32
- date last changed
- 2024-10-07 16:53:32
@misc{9176265,
abstract = {{Connected to the ongoing global challenges relating to soil fertility loss and food security, there has been a recent upswing of alternative management practices (AMPs) within the agricultural sector. These methods are often focused on maximising soil health by safeguarding the below ground ecosystem and by increasing soil organic content. Consequently, AMPs tend to build resilience towards disturbances such as erosion or drought while upholding a net gain of carbon as methods leading to the loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) are minimised and the input of biomass is increased. In contemplation of how these benefits can be implemented and evaluated from a nature based solutions point of view, this study aimed to quantify the carbon sequestration potential of arable land in Södertälje municipality (Sweden) for 6 different AMP scenarios over the course of a decade. This was achieved by utilising base values derived from literature for carbon sequestration per hectare and year for the implementation of cover crops or a combination of cover crops, manure/biomass application and reduced/no tillage to the extent of the study area scenarios, assuming a linear increase in SOC over time. In order to assess whether or not the increase would be detectable, initial SOC content was estimated and compared to the quantified results. The results found that while the change would be unlikely to be detected by sampling, arable land in Södertälje municipality has the potential to sequester approximately 3 000 to 190 000 tonnes over 10 years of carbon depending on AMP scenario. Putting the results into context, this corresponds to around 4-300 percent of the municipal emission reduction target for the same period of time. Main uncertainties of this study are connected to the mean estimations of carbon stock change over time as a function of individual AMPs developed by external literature and experimental reviews. In regards to this, the results are to be viewed as coarse approximates limited by the current state of knowledge rather than absolute.}},
author = {{Loos Fahlvik, Gry}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{Student thesis series INES}},
title = {{Pursuing drawdown- carbon sequestration potential of arable land in Södertälje by alternative management practices}},
year = {{2024}},
}