This site has been created to facilitate the establishment of a South East Asian biochar interest group. BIG-SEA could provide communication and linkage between biochar researchers, farmers, related industry and supporting organisations, interested in tropically focused biochar industry development. Please get in touch if you are interested in supporting or participating in this effort.
Dear Friends of Ithaka,
The prospects of climate change are so increasingly dire that there
are times when it may seem inappropriate to celebrate a promising
scientific advance or any other good news. Good news, however, is
exactly what humanity needs at moments like this. And to produce good
news, it helps to share them and to create examples that others might
replicate.
One such bright spot in the dark is the inclusion of biochar and
pyrogenic carbon capture & storage (PyCCS) into the recent IPCC
special report. It took more than ten years of global biochar science,
technology development and practice before it finally appeared serious
and convincing enough to the world’s leading climate scientists to
mention biochar-based carbon sequestration as a technology to consider.
It may take another five years until policy makers discover and discuss
this most promising solution to keep global warming in a range that may
still sustain civilization in all regions where human culture prospered
during the last millennia. Five more years for us to prepare the
groundwork with sophisticated technology, understanding of mechanisms,
sustainable certification, and valuable biochar based products. See
linked below our extended comments and the decisive, biochar related
passages from the new IPCC special report.
At Ithaka we have been hard at work on various other positive
developments which we hope will provide inspiring examples such as the
forest gardens with organic biochar-based fertilization that we set-up
in Nepal. A local journalist, Abhaya Raj Joshi, recently visited one of
the villages where more than 50,000 trees were planted and have been
linked to a global carbon subscription model since 2015. He interviewed
villagers on how the new climate farming methods have changed their
lives and the village.
And last but not least, Kathleen’s new, updated white paper on using
biochar in coffee production with lots of new success stories about
using biochar in coffee production and processing from three different
continents. Thanks to funding received by the Biochar for Sustainable
Soils project, you can enjoy the complete white paper with open access.
The Ithaka team will be traveling to Cuba, India, China and the UN
climate conference in Poland over the next months to continue with
education, research, collaboration and in-field biochar initiatives. As
always, we will share with you what we learn and what we believe may be
of service to others. We always appreciate hearing about successes and
lessons learned by others working collaboratively on biochar projects
around the globe, please feel invited to share these with us.
Yours Hans-Peter and Kathleen
Biochar and PyCCS included as negative emission technology by the IPCC
by Hans-Peter Schmidt
Biochar was included for the first time as a promising negative
emission technology (NET) in the new IPCC special report. While the
special report’s overall message was alarming, the inclusion of biochar
is an important milestone for mitigating climate change and fostering
research on pyrogenic carbon. We provide here a short summary on
pyrogenic carbon capture and storage (PyCCS) and relevant excerpts from
the new IPCC special report with regards to PyCCS and biochar. ... mehr
Carbon sequestration to rejuvenate land, water and economy in Nepal
by Abhaya Raj Joshi
Three years after the first 10,000 forest garden trees were
planted in a Nepali mountain village and were linked to a new type of
private carbon trading scheme, the village received the visit of a young
journalist from a national newspaper. His particular insights into the
Nepali way of life and policy, make his report about this acclaimed
pilot project combining organic biochar based fertilization, mixed tree
garden plantation, water retenition, soil conservation, and crop value
chain creation a passionate critic. ... mehr
Pyrogenic carbon capture and storage
In this review, we show that pyrolytic carbon capture and storage
(PyCCS) can aspire for carbon sequestration efficiencies of >70%,
which is shown to be an important threshold to allow PyCCS to become a
relevant negative emission technology. Prolonged residence times of
pyrogenic carbon can be generated (a) within the terrestrial biosphere
including the agricultural use of biochar; (b) within advanced bio‐based
materials as long as they are not oxidized (biochar, bio‐oil); and (c)
within suitable geological deposits (bio‐oil and CO2 from permanent
pyrogas oxidation). ... mehr
Biochar & Coffee White Paper
by Kathleen Draper
An increasing number of coffee growers use biochar to improve
soil fertility and resiliency, reduce dependence on fertilizers, achieve
better survival rates for young plants, increase disease resistance and
optimize residue management. New peer reviewed information on how
biochar can help mitigate coffee rust (roya) and other diseases is
presented in addition to benefits related to soil fertility, composting,
effluent filtration, renewable energy production, residue management
and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions across the entire coffee
supply chain. ... mehr (<
"Rikolto in Vietnam (previously VECO Vietnam) is a member of
Rikolto, an international NGO with its International Office in Leuven,
Belgium. Rikolto’s mission is to enable and support smallholder farmers
to take up their role in rural poverty alleviation and to contribute to
feeding a growing world population in a sustainable way. Rikolto is
currently implementing the 2017-2021 programme “Supporting Inclusive and
Sustainable Agricultural Value Chain Development Benefiting
Smallholder Farmers in Vietnam” with a focus on vegetable and rice value
chains.
In April 2018, Rikolto started implementing the project “Reducing
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Rice Production in An Giang Province,
Vietnam, through Alternate Wetting and Drying and Biochar Production”.
This project is a first step to making our target rice value chains more
environmentally-friendly and climate-smart. As part of this project, we
are looking for a (team of) consultant(s) to assess the feasibility of
transforming rice waste into biochar and market it."
The Great Change: Acceleration: " We need to get to above-the-line climate solutions with the same urgency as beach communities spying an approaching tsunami. " ...
I've got Albert's blog listed in my blogger list.... always a highly entertaining and enlightening read.
This post is also an important read for those interested in biochar & climate change...
Some biochar related observations by me are published in the comments section.
When the industry does get around to tapping its full biomass resources, lets hope there is attention given to soil, carbon and sustainable (or even regenerative?) agriculture. EnergyWise
Sustainable Palm Oil … harness the full potential of clean energy to reduce carbon footprint
"Of late there has been much reporting in the media questioning the sustainability of Malaysian palm oil production turning it into the whipping boy of Europe and the US. This article analyses the chronological events leading up to this sad state of affairs to examine if the backlash is indeed unfair and if there is a way forward to get past this impasse." ....
The Great Change: Concrete Solutions: " We want to take the atmosphere back to its pre-industrial chemistry as quickly as possible. For that, we have biocomposites. &q...
The Great Change: Ground Up: " This is where biochar is today in agriculture. Its a better mousetrap in the midst of a huge rodent epidemic and still, most people c...
Here is a story that all folk connected with tropical agriculture should read. Please feel free to circulate this story to soil scientists, agronomists and foresters in SEA.
Lukas will be presenting at ANZBC17 in August.
Michael Shafer's article (abstract below) is provocative and worthy contribution the climate change debate. It is being discussed within the biochar community. If you want to join this discussion, ahead of the formal publication of his article, then please get in touch.
Climate change, developed world v. developing world and biochar
Dr. D. Michael Shafer
Director, Warm Heart Foundation, A.Phrao, Chiang Mai
Abstract
Because we are among the world’s 1.2 billion rich people and not its 5.4 billion poor, it is easy to think about the climate crisis, solutions to the climate crisis and sustainability in terms of developed world actions and initiatives. Given the focus of diplomatic, media, policy, and scientific attention, this is entirely understandable. It is also entirely wrongheaded. If you ask, Where can we most easily improve environmental outcomes? Achieve sustainability? Reverse climate change? To say nothing of, where can we alleviate the most suffering and promote the greatest good? The answers are all found in the developing world. Environmental action in the developing world by and for the world’s poorest 2.54 billion people, very small farmers, can do more right now and at less cost to advance our shared interest in global sustainability than anything else imaginable.
What is to be done? Convince billions of small farmers in the developing world to turn their crop wastes into biochar instead of burning it. How? By providing small farmers a profitable business proposition to take up biochar production through imitation, not outside intervention, and by developing markets for any biochar they produce in excess of what they can use on their farms.
On the face of it, this easily stated proposal seems ridiculous. Building businesses, profit incentives, and making markets in the wilderness to say nothing of convincing billions of illiterate farmers to do anything pose an immense challenge. What is biochar? What does burning crop wastes have to do with the crisis of our times? Why should we even consider handing over such a complex problem to the low-tech that mere peasants can manage when this is obviously a problem for the world’s best and brightest working in its top research labs?
Because engaging billions of illiterate farmers in local markets for biochar is easier, cheaper and faster than any other option. Because biochar is solid CO2 removed from the atmosphere, smoke removed from the air, smog kept from happening and food security for billions. Because burning crop wastes contribute as much to climate change as India. Because stopping the burning by converting to biochar production would remove hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually and save millions of lives. Because the best and the brightest have no high-tech solutions at hand in their labs. Because the poor are ready, willing and able to save us right now. Because we are out of time.
Purpose
The purpose of this
entirely non-traditional paper is not to challenge an existing
theory, provide a new one or even offer new data. Its purpose is not
to specify or clarify distinctions in data. Rather, its aim is to
connect and integrate, to create a single narrative that binds large,
complex and normally separate realms for the purpose of permitting
action. This paper builds on well-established science, but into order
to forge a compelling tale that “fits together” otherwise
disparate pieces. It is not science, but scientifically informed
story telling. Why? Not to denigrate science, but because
policy-makers, politicians and the public are moved by stories, not
science.
I start by
reconceiving climate change as a poor man’s problem, now and in the
future, as climate interacts with population growth to further
imperil food security for the world’s poorest. Second, I suggest
how the immediacy of the climate crisis in the developing world gives
the poor a fundamentally different perspective than the rich. The
rich feel that they can continue the effort to slow the rate at which
we add carbon to the atmosphere; the poor must pursue efforts to
remove carbon and reverse climate change. I then present crop waste
burning in the developing world and its consequences for climate
change and public health. Fourth, I connect crop waste burning to
poor farmers who contribute much to climate change, and are the first
to suffer its consequences. With the pieces assembled, I next
introduce biochar which if made by these small farmers provides them
a powerful soil amendment to improve soil quality, plant health and
crop yields, and in the making sequesters CO2 and averts
the emission of smog precursors and particulates. Finally, I take up
implementation, or, rather, “how to avoid the question: who pays?”
Climate change in
context: The poor man’s problem
The climate
change consequences of crop waste burning
The health
consequences of crop waste burning
Poverty and crop
burning
How
can we deliver a better life to billions of small, poor farmers?
Director, Warm Heart Foundation, A.Phrao, Chiang Mai
"Because we are among the world’s 1.2 billion rich people and not its 5.4 billion poor, it is easy to think about the climate crisis, solutions to the climate crisis and sustainability in terms of developed world actions and initiatives. Given the focus of diplomatic, media, policy, and scientific attention, this is entirely understandable. It is also entirely wrongheaded. If you ask, Where can we most easily improve environmental outcomes? Achieve sustainability? Reverse climate change? To say nothing of where can we alleviate the most suffering and promote the greatest good? The answers are all found in the developing world. Environmental action in the developing world by and for the 2.54 billion of the world’s poorest people, very small farmers, can do more right now and at less cost to advance our shared interest in global sustainability than anything else imaginable. What is to be done? Train billions of small farmers in the developing world to turn their crop wastes into biochar instead of burning it. ..."
Conclusion
"The conclusions that follow from this extended argument should be encouraging for the developed world reader not attempting to commercialize biochar. Stated a boldly as possible: (1) Because the climate change calamity falls largely on the developing world, it must mobilize to solve the problem, not merely postpone it. (2) Unlike the developed world, where much depends on intergovernmental and even inter-nongovernmental organization coordination – a huge task – the remedy required in the developing world requires no coordination and little government action. (3) Developed world efforts to reverse climate change are nascent and decades from ramp up, the technology and project required to remove billions of tons of CO 2 from the atmosphere is ready and waiting in developing world. (4) The developed world winces at the cost of development assistance, but two critical details recommend the proposed program: it clearly serves the interest of the developed world and it will reduce future spending on such financial black hole programs as health and food aid. (5) Finally, because the proposed program works by creating incentives for the world’s poorest to help themselves, it is an investment in reducing climate change’s most salient political challenge: how to manage the hordes of hunger refugees who will storm the borders of the developed world?"
The Great Change: Climate Ecoforestry: "Want to leap the social barrier to cool living? Behold: a stargate." In 2008 we asked Frank Michael a tough question. Frank...
Can biochar make climate change a profitable business opportunity?
In a world frozen
in a futile debate on climate change, can we break the ice with win-win,
sustainable solutions like biochar? Michael Shafer from NGO Warm Heart
Worldwide thinks we can.
My thanks to Prof. Stephen Joseph who has sent me the following publication. Please let me know if you would like me to forward a copy to you...
Biochar use for climate-change mitigation in rice cropping systems
abstract
This study estimated the climate change effects of alternative rice production systems in North Vietnam
with different residue management options, using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The traditional practice of
open burning of residues (System A) was compared with the alternative of converting residues to biochar,
which was returned to the same land area from which the residues were obtained (System B).
Pyrolytic cook-stoves and drum ovens were assumed to be used by households to produce biochar, and
the cook-stoves produced heat energy for cooking. The annual rate of biochar applied was determined by
the amount of biochar produced from the straw and husk available. We assumed that agronomic effects
of biochar increased with each annual biochar application until reaching maximum benefits at
18 Mg ha 1
, which takes eight years to be produced in pyrolytic cook-stoves and drum ovens. The largest
contributor to the carbon footprint of rice at the mill gate, was CH4 emissions from soil, in both systems.
Biochar addition reduced the carbon footprint of spring rice and summer rice by 26% and 14% respectively,
compared with System A, in the first year of application. These values substantially increased to
49% and 38% after eight years of biochar addition. The climate effect of System B was most sensitive to
the assumed suppression of soil CH4 emissions due to biochar application.
Ali Mohammadi a, *
, Annette Cowie a, b
, Thi Lan Anh Mai c
, Ruy Anaya de la Rosa a
,
Paul Kristiansen a
, Miguel Brandao~ d
, Stephen Joseph a, e, f
a School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia b NSW Department of Primary Industries, Beef Industry Centre, Trevenna Rd., Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia c Thai Nguyen University of Sciences, Thai Nguyen University, Thai Nguyen Province, Viet Nam d Division of Industrial Ecology, Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering (SEED), School of Architecture and the
Built Environment (ABE), KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden e Discipline of Chemistry, University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW 2308, Australia f School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
I have permission from Prof. Reg Preston to circulate a chapter of this book which he authored. Please follow this link for your copy.
“The bottom line
The
potential role of biochar as a means of sequestering atmospheric carbon
has so far been the main focus of attention. However, its virtues are
much wider with potential impacts on soil fertility, plant yield and
quality and as an additive in livestock feed, biodigesters and other
liquid waste disposal systems. More important is the emphasis that
biochar has given to the overall concept of the systems approach to
utilization of renewable resources and recycling of wastes with
maintenance or improvement in soil fertility. Biochar makes most sense
when it is derived from a process that aims to optimize the varied
characteristics of biomass, to satisfy the major needs of humanity which
are food, energy, shelter and a healthy environment. It needs to be
produced and used locally for maximum benefits.”
I've recently posted to the NZ biochar interest group (AllBlackEarth) on 3 very interesting video presentations that tie biochar into climate change and other environmental issues. Do check them out if this subject is of interest to you...
My Grandfather Issachar’s War
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*"Part II: The Midnight Ride"*
*We continue reading the Shaker Museum Library’s pamphlet excerpt of the
“Sketch of the Life and Experience of Issachar B...
Nurtured by and dedicated to te reo Māori
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Te reo Māori is Dr. Anaha Hiini’s life purpose. Raised by his grandparents,
Kepa and Maata Hiini, Anaha of Ngāti Tarāwhai, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Whakaue
descen...
Biochar for gardeners
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Biochar is charcoal used to improve the quality of soil for growing plants.
Biochar particles mixed into soil will make the soil loose and friable for
bett...
maccybiochar is in business!
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Please find below a summary recently issued by maccybiochar: maccybiochar
is a not-for-profit volunteer group set up to convert tree litter from
local hous...
Is Mahogany the Answer?
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Is Mahogany the Answer?
True Mahogany or “Genuine Mahogany” is of the Swietenia genus. The Khaya
genus is “close enough” however Shorea genus or Philippi...
Morels! - Waterman and Hill-Traveller's Companion
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Morel Mushrooms
Morels are mycorhizal fungi, that is, they live symbiotically on the roots
of some species of trees. Apples, elms, poplars and ashes are ...
Hoverboards – Which one should You Choose?
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As we’ve seen these past year, hoverboards have become very popular and
look super cool. Today, there is a variety of different types of
hoverboardsavbaila...
Save the Arctic
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*by Renaud de Richter*
*Links*
- This idea was proposed by Denis Bonnelle,
'Solar Chimney, water spraying Energy Tower, and linked renewable en...
Delivering on the promise of soil carbon credits
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[This is a test. Just emerging from a fog. What did I mist? Back to work.
Carbon Farmers of Australia is committed to making the first soil carbon
methodo...
Updates:
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Well, things have changed over the last year and at the moment I'm up in
British Columbia having gotten married at the first of the year. All is
well, life...
-
*Cody's Corner*
[image: family4.jpg]
Big Profits
We practice a method of agriculture here at Real Farm Foods that is old as
the earth and made more acces...
Adoption of Niger Seed
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In 2010, an ECHO Asia Notes article entitled *The Recent Introduction of
Niger Seed (Guizotia abyssinica) Production in Northern Thailand* described
how ...
TAKING THE STEP
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Yup! I'm starting a new walk. I've been toying with the thought for awhile.
I liked my previous retreat from the Internet and I'm doing it again, this
tim...
Installing the ONIL Stove in Guatemala
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Last year I had the good fortune to link up with a small NGO in Panajachel,
Guatemala - Mayan Families - and they were kind enough to let me help them
inst...
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