Turning drylands into global carbon sinks
THE QUESTION
Can technology measure the carbon storage impact of regeneration efforts and link to global carbon markets?
LOCATION | Senegal + Selected countries in the Sahel
SECTOR | Climate & Environment
TECH | Nature-based Solutions
TIMELINE | September 2023 - Present
PIONEER | Mana Farooghi
PARTNERS | Sand to Green
The Challenge
Drylands cover about 40% of the Earth’s land surface and support around 40% of the world’s population. They are very susceptible to desertification, land degradation and drought and their populations, agriculture and ecosystems are vulnerable to climate change and variability. Desertification in drylands has already caused historic carbon loss into the atmosphere. As dryland soils across the world have been degraded, much of this soil is currently very far from saturated with carbon and their potential to sequester carbon is very high.
Currently, most efforts to capture and store carbon from the atmosphere to mitigate the effects of climate change focus on reforestation in mesic and humid climates as carbon sequestration in drylands is not as straightforward as planting a tree in a tropical forest.
Methodologies and tools, such as remote sensing, developed in other ecosystems or for global application are not fit for purpose in drylands and lead to drylands being underrepresented in ecosystem based mitigation efforts.
In the Sahel, soil is a survival issue. People are 80% dependent on smallholder farming or food and often this agriculture, when combined with grazing, leads to depleted land. When you lose the ability to grow food in a certain plot of land it can lead to a plethora of climate, agriculture, health, and conflict challenges.
The Idea
This pilot aims to develop tools for measuring the carbon storage impact of regeneration efforts in the Sahel and linking these to global carbon markets. Currently, much of the technology around regenerative agriculture is emerging from the Global North and is not taking drylands into account. Tailoring technology solutions to drylands, as this pilot aims to do, would help ensure that these technologies are suited to these contexts, are locally led, and take into account local specificities, cultures, traditional knowledge and social systems.
As the Earth’s temperature rises, desertification – the permanent degradation of once-arable land – continues to be a significant, and growing, global risk. But what if we could harness the potential of nature restoration in these drylands to sequester carbon and improve the lives of millions in the Sahel. Introducing the Drylands pilot.