100. The current value of soil C ($8 – 15/t of C) is relatively low. It is likely to increase with the possibility of voluntary or regulated imposition of cap and trade systems. Nonetheless, undervaluing of this important resource can lead to its abuse. It is thus important to identify criteria for determining the societal value of soil C through transparent and fair criteria. Soil C is not yet listed under Article 3.3 of the Kyoto Protocol. The omission of SCS in the Kyoto Treaty, a historical oversight on the part of the founding members of the IPCC, has been a missed opportunity for engaging producers in developing countries in gainfully contributing to CC adaptation and mitigation through SLM practices. Furthermore, trading credits of C sequestered in soil, a win-win scenario for improving household income of the 75% of the world’s poor who live in rural areas, would be an engine of economic development by enhancing agricultural production through adoption of appropriate SLM technologies and practices. These SLM options would: (i) protect the existing SOC stocks, (ii) reduce emission of GHGs from agroecosystems, and (iii) increase SOC and terrestrial C stocks. Indeed, several studies have indicated that C sequestered in biomass and soils can be traded under the CDM (Garcia-Quijana et al., 2007) and other voluntary mechanisms to generate another income stream for farmers. In this context, González-Estrada et al. (2008) have identified SLM practices which can increase SOC pool and farm income for smallholder agricultural systems in northern Ghana. Bigsby (2009) proposed a system of banking C stored in forest ecosystems. The “C banking” systems proposed by Bigsby treats sequestered C in the same way that a financial institute treats capital. In this system, forest owners “deposit” C, in exchange for an annual payment, and those who need C offsets “borrow” C by making an annual payment. Therefore, the role of the C bank is to aggregate deposits of C and use these to meet various demands for C. The system allows participants in the C market to receive current value for C (Bigsby, 2009).
101. The adoption of SLM technology is also essential to advancing food security, improving household income, and promoting economic development. Yet, large scale adoption of SLM technology remains a challenge especially in the poorest regions of the world such as SSA and SA. Severe problems of soil degradation and desertification continue to be the major drivers of unsustainable land use and production systems, despite a vast body of scientific knowledge gathered since 1950's. There is also a long history of repeated attempts to solve the perpetual problems of soil degradation, poverty and unproductive land use with modest or little success. It is thus necessary to identify factors that exacerbate land-soil degradation in the regions where scientifically proven technologies exist but have not been adopted.
102. Similar to soil C, green water credits can also be traded. Trading water credits may also be an important solution to the problem of rapid depletion of ground water in the Indo-Gangetic Basin, as reported by Kerr (2009) and Rodell et al. (2009). Adoption of SLM technologies would conserve water by reducing losses through runoff and evaporation. It would also reduce flash floods and sedimentation of streams and waterways. Therefore, farmers adopting SLM could also be paid for water conservation. Similar to soil C, financial mechanisms can be created whereby downstream water users pay upstream water managers for conserving and improving water quality, quamtity and availability (ISRIC, 2009). Green water credits, while improving use efficiency of limited water resources, create market opportunities and address the incentive gap.
103. There is clearly an urgent need to implement incentive mechanisms which could help address the challenge of promoting adoption of SLM practices at scale. It is in this context that C trading can provide a mechanism to link the science of soil quality improvement through C sequestration with the adoption of SLM practices. It can provide an income stream for resource-poor farmers and small landholders who would otherwise not invest in soil restoration (Antle and Diagana, 2003). Smith et al. (2007) discussed policy and technological constraints to implementation of SLM technologies and showed the importance of identifying policies that provide benefits for climate but also enhance economic, social and environment sustainability. Linked to this, there are several challenges to widespread implementation of CDM in developing countries, especially in Africa. Important among these include:
104. Measurement, monitoring and verification: The feasibility of C credits will depend on availability, cost-effectiveness, routine, simple and some surrogate (practice-based) methods of accessing C credits. It is important to aggregate small amounts of C sequestered in a large number of small farms to a scale large enough to be tradable on C markets.
105. Soil C under Article 3.3: The CDM is currently offered for afforestation and reforestation projects. Soil C is not yet included under CDM, although there are voluntary markets outside of the Protocol that are trading in soil C (e.g., Chicago Commodities Exchange).
106. Sink Projects: Markets for buying and selling C credits are increasing. However there are few projects involving terrestrial C sequestration activities or sink projects. There is limited funding for sink projects outside of the Work Bank facilitated C projects.
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