Carbon sinks losing the battle with rising emissions

March 17, 2009

The stabilising influence that land and ocean carbon sinks have on rising carbon emissions is gradually weakening, say scientists attending this week's international Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.

"Forests, grasslands and oceans are absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere faster than ever but they are not keeping pace with rapidly rising emissions," says CSIRO scientist and co-Chair of the Global Carbon Project, Dr Mike Raupach.

"While these natural CO2 sinks are a huge buffer against climate change, which would occur about twice as fast without them, they cannot be taken for granted."

Dr Raupach and Swiss scientist, Dr Nicolas Gruber, co-Chaired one of 43 sessions at the conference - Climate Change, Vulnerability of Carbon Sinks.

Dr Raupach says concern about the vulnerability of carbon sinks is based on identifying several mechanisms that could cause the present stabilising role of oceans and land to be weakened or even reversed.

"Such a change would have drastic consequences for the predicted magnitude or speed of climate change occurring and scientists will meet in Copenhagen to review and question the latest research from which advice can ultimately be provided to decision-makers."

Discussions will focus on:

* Changes in the carbon sink on land through shifts in atmospheric composition, temperature and rainfall changes, deforestation, fire frequency and insect attacks, all of which can slow or reverse sinks or initiate sources of CO2 to the atmosphere.
* Release of carbon presently locked in frozen soil, as both CO2 and methane (a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2).
* Shifts in large-scale agricultural production of food and fibre, potentially speeding up land clearing and tropical deforestation. This process currently contributes 15-20 per cent of anthropogenic carbon emissions.
* Findings on the exchange of heat and CO2 between the atmosphere and deep ocean, which suggest that climate change is effectively irreversible in less than 1000 years.

Australian science is represented at the conference in sessions on; sea ice, sea level rise, ocean circulation, atmosphere and ocean tipping points, carbon sequestration, carbon capture and storage, changing the way we live and adapting future agricultural production.

CSIRO

---

---

	Carbon Capture and Storage by Steve Rackley (Author) Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) is a technology aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels during industrial and energy-related processes. CCS involves the capture, transport and long-term storage of carbon dioxide, usually in geological reservoirs deep underground that would otherwise be released to the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide capture and storage offers important possibilities for making further use of fossil fuels more compatible with climate change mitigation policies. The largest volumes of CO2 could be captured from large point sources such as from power generation, which alone accounts for about 40 per cent of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions. The development of capture technologies in the power generation sector could be particularly important...
	Carbon Sink Enhancement in Soils of Europe: Data, Modeling, Verification by Joint Research Centre (Author), European Commission (Editor) The results on ‘Data and Database Strategy’ of the Integrated Sink Enhancement Assessment (INSEA) project of the 6th Framework Programme are presented. The collection of papers include a wide range of studies carried out in the EU: observation of available data sources on soils; the organic carbon content in the top soil and its validation; field verification of the changes in the soil organic carbon; application of the field-scale model EPIC (Environmental Policy Integrated Climate) to predict the changes in soil organic carbon content due to land management. The book addresses specialists and those who are focused on the research of the soil organic carbon.
	Carbon Capture and Sequestration Integrating Technology, Monitoring, Regulation by Elizabeth Wilson (Editor), David Gerard (Editor) This book is the first systematic presentation of the technical, legal, and economic forces that must coalesce to realize carbon dioxide capture and geologic sequestration as a viable CO2 reduction strategy. It synthesizes key engineering data and explains the technological and legal conditions that must be in place for carbon sequestration to be realized.
	Plant Litter: Decomposition, Humus Formation, Carbon Sequestration by Björn Berg (Author), Charles McClaugherty (Author) This fully revised and updated 2nd edition of Plant Litter focuses on decomposition processes in natural terrestrial systems such as boreal and temperate forests. The availability of several long-term studies from these forest types allows a more in-depth approach to the later stages of decomposition as well as to humus formation. It further briefly explores how processes are modified due to anthropogenic influences. Earlier findings are re-evaluated in light of recent research.
	Harnessing Farms and Forests in the Low-Carbon Economy: How to Create, Measure, and Verify Greenhouse Gas Offsets by Zach Willey (Editor), Bill Chameides (Editor) As the United States moves to a low-carbon economy in order to combat global warming, credits for reducing carbon dioxide emissions will increasingly become a commodity that is bought and sold on the open market. Farmers and other landowners can benefit from this new economy by conducting land management practices that help sequester carbon dioxide, creating credits they can sell to industry to “offset” industrial emissions of greenhouse gases.This guide is the first comprehensive technical publication providing direction to landowners for sequestering carbon and information for traders and others who will need to verify the sequestration. It will provide invaluable direction to farmers, foresters, land managers, consultants, brokers, investors, regulators, and others interested in...
	Recarbonization of the Biosphere: Ecosystems and the Global Carbon Cycle by Rattan Lal (Editor), Klaus Lorenz (Editor), Reinhard F. Hüttl (Editor), Bernd Uwe Schneider (Editor), Joachim von Braun (Editor) Human activities are significantly modifying the natural global carbon (C) cycles, and concomitantly influence climate, ecosystems, and state and function of the Earth system. Ever increasing amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) are added to the atmosphere by fossil fuel combustion but the biosphere is a potential C sink. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of C cycling in the biosphere is crucial for identifying and managing biospheric C sinks. Ecosystems with large C stocks which must be protected and sustainably managed are wetlands, peatlands, tropical rainforests, tropical savannas, grasslands, degraded/desertified lands, agricultural lands, and urban lands. However, land-based sinks require long-term management and a protection strategy because C stocks grow with a progressive...
	The Role of Land Carbon Sinks in Mitigating Global Climate Change. by Royal Society (Author)
	Carbon Sinks and Climate Change: Forests in the Fight Against Global Warming (Advances in Ecological Economics) by Colin A. G. Hunt (Author) Reforestation and avoiding deforestation are methods of harnessing nature to tackle global warming - the greatest challenge facing humankind. In this book, Colin Hunt deals comprehensively with the present and future role of forests in climate change policy and practice. The author provides signposts for the way ahead in climate change policy and offers practical examples of forestry's role in climate change mitigation in both developed and tropical developing countries. Chapters on measuring carbon in plantations, their biodiversity benefits and potential for biofuel production complement the analysis. He also discusses the potential for forestry in climate change policy in the United States and other countries where policies to limit greenhouse gas emissions have been foreshadowed. The...
	Caching the Carbon: The Politics and Policy of Carbon Capture and Storage by James Meadowcroft (Editor), Oluf Langhelle (Editor) Over the past decade, carbon capture and storage (CCS) has come to the fore as a way to manage carbon dioxide emissions contributing to climate change. This book examines its introduction into the political scene, different interpretations of its significance as an emerging technology and the policy challenges facing government and international institutions with respect to its development, deployment and regulation. The focus of the book is on the construction of arguments about CCS in the public sphere, the coalitions of actors who have articulated distinctive perspectives on CCS and the varied strategies governments have adopted to integrate it into climate and energy policies. The authors analyze the issues decision-makers now confront in encouraging the uptake of the technology,...
	Natural Sinks of Co2: Palmas Del Mar, Puerto Rico, 24-27 February 1992 by Joe Wisniewski (Editor), Ariel E. Lugo (Editor) Most of the attention with respect to the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations centers around three issues: human-generated sources of carbon, mostly from burning fossil fuels; tropical deforestation, which accelerates the production of atmospheric carbon while causting havoc with biodiversity and the economic development of tropical countries; and the temperature increase that may accompany increased atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. This is the first book to focus extensively on the reverse to emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), i.e. the sequestering of atmospheric carbon by aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Natural ecosystems are currently sequestering carbon and it is economically feasible to manage existing and additional terrestrial (forest,...