{"id":1907,"date":"2013-10-25T23:05:34","date_gmt":"2013-10-25T23:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/astraea.net\/blog\/?p=1907"},"modified":"2013-10-28T10:26:15","modified_gmt":"2013-10-28T10:26:15","slug":"biochar-the-original-soil-amendment-to-mitigate-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astraea.net\/blog\/biochar-the-original-soil-amendment-to-mitigate-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Biochar: The Original Soil Amendment to Mitigate Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Below is an article from CSR Wire<\/a> summarising the use of charcoal as a soil improver.\u00a0 It’s benefits have been known for centuries as it was a principal technique used by aboriginal American peoples.\u00a0 Adding charcoal to soil helps it maintain its vitality and catalyses the decomposition of plant and animal matter and its transformation in to plant food.\u00a0 (Don’t use treated or manufactured charcoal which contains petroleum derivatives and toxins.)<\/p>\n

(Previous blog on biochar here: Black is the new green)<\/a><\/p>\n

Biochar: The Original Soil Amendment to Mitigate Climate Change<\/a><\/h4>\n

By Stefan Jirka<\/p>\n

The man heaves another shovelful of dirt out of the 2-meter deep pit. The sun blazes overhead, an eerie stillness blanketing the midday jungle. The two dozen people gathered around peer eagerly over the edge. Along the vertical face of the soil pit, pottery shards intermingled with blackened bits of charred material are clearly visible. The crowd murmurs a small gasp as the man passes up a handful of soil. Someone swats at a mosquito buzzing incessantly as a machete is unsheathed and used to separate a bit of pottery from the blackish clumps in the dirt.<\/p>\n

Black Earth of The Amazon<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This may sound like a scene from the latest Indiana Jones <\/em>movie, but in fact, it was a recent excursion of researchers, environmentalists, and journalists to investigate the phenomenon known as terra preta do indio\u00ad\u00ad<\/em><\/a>\u2014Portuguese for \u201cblack earth of the Indian\u201d\u2014in the Brazilian Amazon.<\/p>\n

Terra preta<\/em> soils, found across vast areas of the Amazon Basin, are charcoal-enhanced soils associated with pottery shards, bones, and other signs of human habitation, and are thousands of years old. Compared to the acidic, nutrient-poor, red clay soils from which they\u2019re derived, terra preta<\/em> are dark (from the carbonized remains of plant and animal material) and, crucially, highly fertile. They can contain as much as 70% more organic carbon than the\"TerraPreta(DSCN2235)_PhotoCredit_StefanJirka\" surrounding soils.<\/p>\n

Archaeologists have known about these anthropogenic soils for decades but only in recent years have soil scientists and others begun to dig deeper. In doing so they\u2019ve opened exploration of a new field of research around the sustainability benefits of \u201cbiochar\u201d\u2014defined by the International Biochar Initiative (IBI)<\/a> as a solid material obtained from the carbonization of biomass that may be added to soils with the intention to improve soil functions. <\/em>IBI is the leading global non-profit organization supporting research and commercialization for sustainable biochar production and use.<\/p>\n

The questions researchers are finding answers to include:<\/p>\n