Carbon sequestration, biodiversity and social structures in Southern Amazonia: models and implementations of carbon-optimized land management strategies


Project Summary: Climate change will increase precipitation variability – i. e. extreme events like droughts will occur more often also in the tropics and mean temperature will ultimately increase. Land use intensification is associated with (a) losses of ecosystem services like the loss of natural vegetation and associated ecosystem functions in the global and regional climate system, an (b) increasing releases of greenhouse gases (GHG), and (c) the reduction of livelihoods. This project aims at providing interdisciplinary solutions for these problems. Three regions along the land use frontier of Southern Amazonia were selected: Southern Pará: most active deforestation; Northern Mato Grosso: young soy bean production; Central Mato Grosso: established cultivation (>20 years) and adapted mechanised cropping (e.g. no till). Analyses focus on soil carbon (C) turnover, climate, ecosystem functions and socio-economic processes. Simulation models will be combined as software packages to support the decision-taking process based on field and acquired data, including a step-by-step up-scaling from local to landscape and regional scale. All research and implementation activities include direct involvement of the stakeholders. Furthermore, joint field experiments for improving C storage and ecosystem functions will be performed in tight cooperation with an NGO founded by the farmers' organisation of Mato Grosso. A combined computer-based decision support platform will be developed, including simulation models to run region-specific impacts of different scenarios of land use options and climate change on GHG and C cycling. This will be a highly valuable tool for regional planning authorities. From the scenario calculations simplified versions (e.g. emission factors) will be made available as an easy-to-use decision support system for individual stakeholders. Results will be communicated directly to stakeholders, by human capacity building, and by promoting financially feasible, C-optimized land use techniques throughout tropical areas with similar conditions.

Participating Institutions:
Georg-August-University Göttingen
Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Leipzig
Technical University Mining Academy Freiberg
Leibniz University Hannover
Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel
Humboldt-University Berlin
University Hamburg
University Kassel
University Hohenheim
Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)
Free University Berlin