Carbon Management 

About: Carbon Management is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Greenhouse gas & Carbon sequestration. It has an ISSN identifier of 1758-3004. Over the lifetime, 637 publications have been published receiving 13139 citations.

Global soil carbon: understanding and managing the largest terrestrial carbon pool

Abstract: Carbon stored in soils worldwide exceeds the amount of carbon stored in phytomass and the atmosphere. Despite the large quantity of carbon stored as soil organic carbon (SOC), consensus is lacking on the size of global SOC stocks, their spatial distribution, and the carbon emissions from soils due to changes in land use and land cover. This article summarizes published estimates of global SOC stocks through time and provides an overview of the likely impacts of management options on SOC stocks. We then discuss the implications of existing knowledge of SOC stocks, their geographical distribution and the emissions due to management regimes on policy decisions, and the need for better soil carbon science to mitigate losses and enhance soil carbon stocks.

Review of the stability of biochar in soils: predictability of O:C molar ratios

Abstract: Biochar is not a structured homogeneous material; rather it possesses a range of chemical structures and a heterogeneous elemental composition. This variability is based on the conditions of pyrolysis and the biomass parent material, with biochar spanning the range of various forms of black carbon. Thereby, this variability induces a broad spectrum in the observed rates of reactivity and, correspondingly, the overall chemical and microbial stability. From evaluating the current biochar and black carbon degradation studies, there is the suggestion of an overall relationship in biochar stability as a function of the molar ratio of oxygen to carbon (O:C) in the resulting black carbon. In general, a molar ratio of O:C lower than 0.2 appears to provide, at minimum, a 1000-year biochar half-life. The O:C ratio is a function of production temperature, but also accounts for other impacts (e.g., parent material and post-production conditioning/oxidation) that are not captured solely with production temperature. Th...

Carbon sequestration in mangrove forests

Abstract: Mangrove forests are highly productive, with carbon production rates equivalent to tropical humid forests. Mangroves allocate proportionally more carbon belowground, and have higher below- to above-ground carbon mass ratios than terrestrial trees. Most mangrove carbon is stored as large pools in soil and dead roots. Mangroves are among the most carbon-rich biomes, containing an average of 937 tC ha-1, facilitating the accumulation of fine particles, and fostering rapid rates of sediment accretion (∼5 mm year -1) and carbon burial (174 gC m-2 year -1). Mangroves account for only approximately 1% (13.5 Gt year -1) of carbon sequestration by the world’s forests, but as coastal habitats they account for 14% of carbon sequestration by the global ocean. If mangrove carbon stocks are disturbed, resultant gas emissions may be very high. Irrespective of uncertainties and the unique nature of implementing REDD+ and Blue Carbon projects, mangroves are prime ecosystems for reforestation and restoration.

Shifting paradigms: development of high-efficiency biochar fertilizers based on nano-structures and soluble components

Abstract: Many biochars have a complex carbon lattice structure with aromatic and aliphatic domains, acidic and basic groups, vacancies, metallic and non-metallic elements, and free radicals. Biochars also have separate mineral oxide, silicate and salt phases, and small and large organic molecules. In the rhizosphere, such constituents can be involved in chemical and biological processes along a soil–microbe–plant continuum, including nutrient cycling, metal chelation and stabilization, redox reactions, and free radical scavenging. It is hypothesized that the greater the amount of these nanoparticles and dissolved components, the greater will be plant and microbial responses. We provide suggestions for developing low-dose, high-efficiency biochar–nanoparticle composites, as well as initial field trial results and detailed characterization of such a biochar–fertilizer composite, to highlight the potential of such biochars.

‘Carbon footprinting’: towards a universally accepted definition

Abstract: As the threat of climate change becomes more acute, so does the need for adequate measures of impact(s), management and mitigation. Although carbon footprints are increasingly being used by organizations in the public and private sectors, a number of challenges and questions need to be addressed; among them, what does the term ‘carbon footprint’ actually mean? The term needs a universally accepted definition before a consistent, accurate, comparable and transferable methodology can be developed. This article investigates the range of current definitions proposed for a carbon footprint in the context of inventoried emissions, applications, boundaries and limitations. We argue that to only account for CO2 emissions would result in the omission of almost a third of GHGs and a significant gap in their global management, whilst inclusion of all GHGs is very time-consuming and expensive, and should be considered only in system-specific life cycle-based assessments; this requires a separate definition, name and ...