Carbon neutral expansion of oil palm plantations in the Neotropics

Alternatives to ecologically devastating deforestation land use change trajectories are needed to reduce the carbon footprint of oil palm (OP) plantations in the tropics. Although various land use change options have been proposed, so far, there are no empirical data on their long-term ecosystem carbon pools effects. Our results demonstrate that pasture-to-OP conversion in savanna regions does not change ecosystem carbon storage, after 56 years in Colombia. Compared to rainforest conversion, this alternative land use change reduces net ecosystem carbon losses by 99.7 ± 9.6%. Soil organic carbon (SOC) decreased until 36 years after conversion, due to a fast decomposition of pasture-derived carbon, counterbalancing the carbon gains in OP biomass. The recovery of topsoil carbon content, suggests that SOC stocks might partly recover during a third plantation cycle. Hence, greater OP sustainability can be achieved if its expansion is oriented toward pasture land.

Soil Organic Carbon Change of Different Land Use Classes in TBNA from 1995 to 2012

Soil carbon pool is an important component of the ecosystem carbon pools. It plays a key role in mitigating the global warming and control the concentration of greenhouse gas. The areas of urban land have changed dramatically both in quality and quantity due to the land-based urbanization and industrialization. This paper analyzed the change of the soil organic carbon reserves under the land use change in Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA) from 1995 to 2012. The results showed that the land use change was one of the important reasons of the soil organic carbon change, and the soil organic carbon reserves of land use change in TBNA was reduced from3.339mt (million ton) to 5.842mt in this stage.