Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
ANNEXURE 8
CARBON FARMING SOLUTION
(Excerpts from The Carbon Farming Solution: A Global Toolkit of Perennial Crops
and Regenerative Agriculture Practices for Climate Change Mitigation and Food
Security, by Eric Toensmeier)
Carbon farming practices - a suite of crops and practices that sequester
carbon while simultaneously meeting human needs. This, if widely supported,
implemented, and developed on a global scale in conjunction with a massive
reduction in fossil fuel emissions, could play a critical role in preventing
catastrophic climate change by removing carbon from the atmosphere and safely
storing it in soils and perennial vegetation. It could also return our atmosphere to
the “magic number” of 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide. Carbon farming is
successful when carbon gains resulting from enhanced land management and/or
conservation practices exceed carbon losses.
Degraded soils give up much of their carbon to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide,
a greenhouse gas.
Eg., Las Canadas in Veracruz, Mexico. The many sustainable practices employed
by Ricardo Romero at Las Canadas, also sequester carbon, help mitigate climate
change while producing food, fodder, materials, chemicals, and energy, thus
fostering community self-reliance, creating jobs, improving biodiversity, and
bringing degraded land back to life.
At present, the tropics have stronger carbon farming options compared to colder
climates. Many of the agroforestry techniques that have the highest sequestration
rates are largely confined to the tropics, at least at present, and most of the best
perennial crops available today are also native to, or grown best in, the tropics.
Between 97 and 98% of climate scientists agree that climate change is real and
is caused by human activity; namely, through land management practices and
burning fossil fuels. Not all humans have contributed equally. Wealthy nations
and wealthier people disproportionately drive the process through excessive use of
energy and consumption of goods and services. It is those who have done the least
Indian Rivers
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