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Introduction
Drylands cover about 40% of the Earth’s land surface, excluding Antarctica andGreenland, and are home to more than two billion people (WRI 2002). They are susceptible to desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) and their populations, agriculture and ecosystems are vulnerable to climate change and variability. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), one of the three ‘Rio’ conventions born out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), aims to address these issues and emphasises action to promote sustainable development at the community level. The other Rio conventions are the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The areas of interest of the three Conventions are closely linked and each has accepted the need to work in concert. One area of joint interest is that of the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by plants and its storage in ecosystems. It is perhaps the only practicable way of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the short term and therefore one of the few options for addressing its existing carbon load, as distinct to slowing future loading by reducing current and future emissions. Most attention so far has focussed on carbon sequestration by tropical forests. More recently, some have argued for a more holistic approach to terrestrial carbon (The Terrestrial Carbon Group, 2008). This paper reviews the potential for carbon sequestration in dryland ecosystems, which includes forests, but also covers other habitats, such as grasslands, and, importantly, soils. It also considers ways in which carbon storage in drylands
affects land degradation issues. |
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