Land grabs for biochar? : narratives and counter-narratives in Africa's emerging biogenic carbon sequestration economy
Leach, Melissa, James Fairhead and James Fraser
Biochar refers to the carbon-rich product that results when biomass from wood or leaves to manure or crop residues is burned under oxygen-deprived conditions and then buried in the ground.1 Yet around this apparently simple practice extraordinary levels of technological optimism and debate are emerging amidst the imperatives for global climate change mitigation and associated carbon markets. Burying biochar offers the promise of long-term sequestration of carbon, part of a suite of biogenicc approaches to climate geo-engineering that now attract the interest of scientists, policymakers and companies alike. Because its production and burial might also enhance soil fertility and thus food security, and can generate bio-energy and improving womenns health through reduced-smoke woodstoves - biochar is rapidly being promoted as a multiple winn technology for small farmers in Africa and beyond. Meanwhile, biochar-related businesses are multiplying rapidly, given rich if uncertain rewards promised by emerging global carbon markets. At the same time, critiques are emerging that question this promise and point to the dangers inherent in certain styles of biochar development. The spectre of land grabs or carbon grabss - is pivotal to this emerging debate. We define carbon grabs as large scale appropriations of land and resources for global climate change mitigation benefits and profits from carbon markets. As we show, some are arguing for large-scale land deals to produce biochar feedstocks, driven by the impetus to sequester significant quantities of carbon. This threatens a re-run of biofuels vs. foodd controversies and resource appropriations, yet with a new twist as carbon grabs for biofuels and for biochar feedstocks threaten to compete with each other too. NGO activists and African governments alike have seized on the land grab spectre to mount vociferous critiques of biochar as a whole. On the other hand, many researchers and practitioners insist that land grab possibilities are a red herring, given that carbon sequestration efficiency and effectiveness, let alone small farmerss livelihood needs, are better served by small-scale systems that recycle wastes in ways fully compatible with local farming and resource control. The paper tracks these diverse narratives and counter-narratives, considering which actors are producing them, the assumptions and evidence they draw on, and the ways they are shaped by and play into emerging biochar debates and practices.
Event: International Conference on Global Land Grabbing
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