Carbon storage versus fossil fuel substitution: a climate change mitigation option for two different land use categories based on short and long rotation forestry in India

Abstract

Short rotation bioenergy crops for energy production are considered an effective means to mitigate the greenhouse effect, mainly due to their ability to substitute fossil fuels. Alternatively, carbon can be sequestered and stored in the living biomass. This paper compares the two land use categories (forest land and non-forest land) for two management practices (short rotation vs. long rotation) to study mitigation potential of afforestation and fossil fuel substitution as compared to carbon storage. Significant carbon benefit can be obtained in the long run from using lands for growing short rotation energy crops and substituting fossil fuels by the biomass thus produced, as opposed to sequestering carbon in the biomass of the trees. When growth rates are high and harvest is used in a sustainable manner (i.e., replanting after every harvest), the opportunities for net carbon reductions appear to be fossil fuel substitution, rather than storage in ecosystem biomass. Our results suggest that at year 100 a total of 216 Mg C ha −1 is sequestered for afforestation/ reforestation using long rotation sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn.f) species, as opposed to offset of 412 Mg C ha −1 for carbon storage and fossil fuel substitution for short rotation poplar (Populus Deltoides Marsh) plantations. The bioenergy option results in a continuous stream of about 3 Mg C ha −1 yr −1 of carbon benefits per year on forest land and 4 Mg C ha −1 yr −1 on non-forest land. Earlier studies have shown that in India waste land availability for establishing energy plantations is in the range of 9.6 to 36.5 Mha. Thus, using the 758 Tg biomass per year generated from 9.6 Mha waste land gives a mitigation potential in the range of 227 to 303 Tg C per year for carbon storage and fossil fuel substitution from poplar plantation for substituting coal based power generation. Depending upon the land

Carbon storage and sequestration potential of selected tree species in India

“…Figure 2 illustrates the modular structure of the model. Previously, we used the bioenergy module of the CO2FIX model to compare the carbon mitigation potential of afforestation and fossil fuel substitution for two land use categories (forest land and non-forest land) and two management practices (short vs. long rotation) (Kaul et al 2010b).…”

Pendekatan Dalam Penentuan Hutan Desa Buntoi, Kabupaten Pulang Pisau, Kalimantan Tengah

“…Kecepatan pemulihan vegetasi suatu ekosistem sangat dipengaruhi oleh luasan kerusakan akibat gangguan, jenis tumbuhan yang ada disekitar terjadinya gangguan, sifat-sifat jenis tumbuhan dan kondisi iklim setempat (Mirmanto, 2009). Hutan berpotensi menyerap CO 2 dari udara melalui proses fotosintesis dan menyimpannya dalam biomassa karbon (Kaul, Mohren & Dadhwal, 2010;Murniningtyas, 2011;McMurtrie & Dewar, 2013). Proses penyerapan dari atmosfir dan penyimpanannya dalam karbon tersimpan yang akhirnya akan membentuk rosot (sink) karbon.…”

Wood Use and Forest Management for Carbon Sequestration in Community Forestry in Sierra Juárez, Mexico

“…It is an inventory-based model the structure and complexity of which has been described by Schelhaas et al (2004) and detailed in the studies of Kaipainen et al (2004), Perez et al (2007) and Kaul et al (2010). The forest C stocks are separately analyzed under Biomass, Soil, Products, and Bioenergy modules.…”