Climate Change Mitigation - Climate Resilient Agriculture for Ensuring Food Security - page 322

Fig. 13.16 Technical mitigation potential of cropland management options

At low prices of carbon, dominant alternative
strategies for land management are those con-
sistent with the existing production such as
changes in tillage, fertilizer application, live-
stock diet formulation, and manure manage-
ment. Higher prices elicit land-use changes that
displace existing production, such as biofuels,
and allow for use of costly animal feed-based
mitigation options. A practice effective in
reducing emissions at one site may be less effec-
tive or even counterproductive elsewhere.
Consequently, there is no universally applicable
list of mitigation practices; practices need to be
evaluated for individual agricultural systems
based on climate, edaphic, social setting, and
historical patterns of land use and management
(IPCC 2007a , b , c ).

equivalent (MtCO 2 e) per year at a carbon price of
US$ 20 per MtCO 2 e. The mitigation potential
through land-use change is estimated to be a
further 1,550 MtCO 2 e per year.
Overall potential of agriculture to mitigate
carbon (excluding biomass and fossil fuel off-
sets) is projected to be approximately 5,500-
6,000 MtCO 2 e per year by 2030 (Smith et al.
2012 ). The price of carbon determines the
global economic potential for agricultural miti-
gation - the higher the price, the higher the
potential.
The global economic potential of mitigation
through land-use change (avoided deforestation
and degradation, reforestation, and restoration) is
estimated to be between 1,270 and 4,230 MtCO 2 e
per year in 2030 (at carbon prices up to US$ 100
per t CO 2 e). About 1,550 MtCO 2 e per year can be
achieved at a cost under US$ 20 per t CO 2 e
(Nabuurs et al. 2007 ).
Sequestering carbon in the soils of croplands,
grazing lands, and rangelands offers highest
potential source of climate change mitigation
from agriculture. These soils can store between
1,500 and 4,500 MtCO 2 e per year (Table 13.13 )
(Smith et al. 2007 ).

13.4.2 Agricultural Mitigation
Potential

The mitigation potential of a suite of agricultural
practices that reduce emissions associated with
farming and increase carbon storage is estimated