Comments: Biochar fund to fight hunger, energy poverty, deforestation, and global warming

Have any studies been done on whether or not biochar applications have actually slowed deforestation? If applied to lands that have been slashed and burned, does it have the potential to remediate the soil back into a condition that can support the rainforest as it once was? Thanks.

Drew

Hello Drew,
Just look where the whole idea originated from
Terra Preta:
Australian of the Year 2007, Tim Flannery talks bio char and why ...
Beyond Zero Emissions (press release), Australia - 19 Mar 2008
Beyond Zero talks with Tim Flannery about Terra Preta (bio char), his experience as 'Australian of the Year' and the current political climate. ...
Look here:
http://beyondzeroemissions.org/2008/03/19/tim-flannery-australian-of-the-year-2007-talks-bio-char-

Frank Strie

Terra Preta is one of the many "technologies' developed by the ancient ones that has/is being rediscovered. It is a stunning idea and, if implemented well, could be a significant contibutor to the worlds current woes.
As ususal, 'if' is the BIG word. One imagines the ancients worked hard and carefully, selecting areas of forests for processing based on an accumulation of knowledge passed in oral tradition over many generations. The biggest risk to achieving the benefits of terra petra is mixing in inappropriate 'modern' technologies for reason of haste and of course greed. We (all) need to be mindful of the greedies amd their abilities to corner some essential part of the process. Also they can simply make it too difficult for the locals to actually get access to the land and forests they need to develop the practice of terra petra.
I'm right behind the ideas in the web site - but proceed with caution and plan extensively.

BobL

Certainly, restoring soil carbon can reverse global warming, desertification and biodiversity loss. The main problem associated with the preparation of an artificial terr-preta to induce soil fertility would be the enormous amount of biomass that must be pyrolyzed to produce the agrichar required. As an example, the 250 ton C in an hectare of terra-preta is equivalent to about 700 tons of wood.; that was a very slow process when the Amazonia natives did it. Therefore, one alternative would be to use an agrichar properly prepared from coke obtained from fossil hydrocarbons ! In contrast to light petroleum, there is plenty of coal, bitumen and heavy oil reserves in earth’s deposits, which to convert to the desired liquid fuels will be necessary the by-production of very large amount of coke, which is not very welcome from the economic point of view, unless a new potential good use appears: its use as an agrichar!

Jorge Laine

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