Bamboo

Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

Arun Jyoti Nath, Gudeta W. Sileshi, Ashesh Kumar Das

• Publisher: Apple Academic Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781774635186
• eBook ISBN: 9781000023008
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Ecology
• Index: Biological Sciences

This new book presents an abundance of important information and case studies that deal with bamboo farming and its effects from and on climate change adaptation and mitigation. There is a lack of research on the role of bamboo in climate change adaptation and mitigation; this volume helps to fill that gap by providing information that will enable policymakers to consider bamboo farming and its implications in carbon trading.

Bamboo represents one of the world's highest yielding renewable natural resources and is an important source of non-timber forest products for subsistence use as well as for materials with many commercial and industrial uses. There are over 1500 documented applications of bamboo products, including materials for bridges, construction, furniture, agricultural tools, handicrafts, papers, textiles, boards, edible, and bioenergy applications. With their fast growth rate and rapid propagation, bamboo forests have a high C storage potential, especially when the harvested culms are transformed into durable products and thereby prolonging the C storage.

Environmentalists love bamboo for its quick growth and for the fact that it can be harvested without harming the environment. This volume is a rich resource on the role of bamboo in ecological farming and climate change mitigation.

Key features of the book include:

• Explores the role of bamboo on climate change and environment and ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change

• Considers overlooked bamboo biomass resources

• Explains carbon capture and storage potential in bamboo

• Assesses opportunities for carbon farming and carbon trading in bamboo

• Looks at the role on bamboo cultivation on the livelihood of rural populations

• Details the soil properties needed for bamboo-based agroforestry systems

CHAPTER 1

General Introduction

1.1 Background

Recent studies indicate that climate change is increasing at an unprecedented rate, and this change is driven by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), particularly carbon dioxide (CO₂). According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), GHG emissions from fossil fuels grew by 1.4% in 2011, and it reached a record level of 31.6 GtCO₂ equivalents per year in 2012, which was the highest level in history (IEA, 2013). Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have projected that global GHG emissions may rise to 64 GtCO₂ equivalents by 2050. They also project that it will rise to 78 GtCO₂ equivalents by 2100 (MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, 2017). These levels of GHG emission may result in 2.6–5.2°C increases in temperature by 2100 (Rogelj et al., 2016). Over the years, a number of international actions have been suggested to be implemented under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to reduce atmospheric CO₂ concentrations (Burns and Nicholson, 2017).

A number of mitigation approaches have also been proposed to maintain temperatures below 2°C (Burns and Nicholson, 2017). The primary geoengineering approaches currently in use seek to remove and sequester CO₂ mainly through biological, geochemical, or chemical means (Burns and Nicholson, 2017; Williamson, 2016). The most frequently cited options include fertilization of oceans with iron, enhanced weathering, direct air capture, bioenergy carbon (C) capture and storage systems, and afforestation (Burns, 2016; Burns and Nicholson, 2017). Afforestation has several positive effects. First, C sequestration in both above, and below-ground tree biomass is an important mitigation strategy, which is now referred to as carbon farming (Becker et al., 2013; Toensmeier, 2016). Secondly, through increased forest cover, daily surface temperatures may be reduced in subtropical regions due to changes in the s...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• About the Authors
• Table of Contents
• Abbreviations
• Preface
• Chapter 1 General Introduction
• Chapter 2 Ecosystem Services and Human Uses of Bamboos
• Chapter 3 Soil Quality Assessment of Bamboo-Based Systems
• Chapter 4 Role of Bamboo in Ecosystem-Based Adaptation
• Chapter 5 Traditional Bamboo Products: Are They Green?
• Chapter 6 Biomass Models
• Chapter 7 Bamboo-Based Home Gardens: Opportunities for Biomass Production and Carbon Sequestration
• Chapter 8 Soil Properties and Carbon Sequestration in Bamboo-Based Systems
• Chapter 9 Carbon Farming and Carbon Trading
• Chapter 10 Challenges, Conclusions, and Recommendations
• Color insert of illustrations
• Index