Beijing's Research Center to Help Cut CO2 Emitted Through Farming

decrease font size

increase font size

change type face

bookmark this page

email this page

print this page

TheBioenergySite Latest News

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Print This Page

Beijing's Research Center to Help Cut CO2 Emitted Through Farming

BEIJING, CHINA - With the launch of the Center for Research on Agriculture and Climate Change yesterday in Beijing, new standards and technologies are being adopted to help control the emission of greenhouse gas (GHG) caused by farming.

The center is a joint establishment of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a US-based nongovernmental organization. It aims to publish a Chinese version of the Duke Standard (a US guide to verifiable and measurable methods for reducing, avoiding and storing GHGs produced by agriculture.

The EDF has already run several pilots based on the standard in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. These include promoting non-till farming technology, adopting drip irrigation, turning biogas into fuel and planting tamarisk - a shrub slows sand movement.

Carbon credits produced by the pilots were marketed for voluntary reductio of GHG emissions.

The pilot tests will help prevent estimated emissions of more than 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent over the next five years. They have also provided additional revenue for farmers who were able to sell the carbon credits.

According to David Yarnold (executive director of the EDF), the center will teach farmers about technologies that will help reduce GHG emissions, provide local communities with plans on how to mitigate the effects of climate change and provide verification services as credits to be traded on the international market.

TheBioenergySite News Desk