Novel Strategies to Optimise Climate Change Mitigation in Rural Areas

Dear Colleagues,

The United Nations Climate Action Summit in 2019 describes climate change as ‘the defining issue of our time’. All sectors have opportunities to mitigate the cause of climate change, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including the predominantly rural agricultural sector. Agriculture is responsible for the bulk of global nitrous oxide and methane emissions, both potent GHGs which, according to the IPCC, contribute 10%–12% of global anthropogenic emissions overall. Rural areas are not, however, solely limited to agriculture but also include forestry and, more extensively, managed carbon rich semi-natural habitats. Declines in carbon sequestration due to changes in land use or management represent further potential emission sources. Agriculture is also unique compared to other sectors in that GHG emissions are highly variable spatially. They are influenced not only by the type of farm, commodity produced, and method of management, but also any change in land use plus local environmental factors such as soil texture, annual rainfall, and topography. In response to this, devising optimal climate change mitigation strategies in rural areas is a complex process. There is however, significant potential to reduce GHG emissions and enhance carbon sequestration subject to the appropriate spatial targeting of strategies that account for this variability. Any strategy needs to ensure the continued production of agricultural commodities where applicable while simultaneously avoiding ‘pollution swapping’, or the transfer of pollutants elsewhere. This Special Issue aims to consider novel but viable approaches to GHG mitigation in rural areas accounting for these various complexities. Of interest are original manuscripts that focus on emissions reduction and/or carbon sequestration that may be incorporated into integrated agricultural systems or applied within the context of other rural land uses.

Dr. Douglas Warner
Guest Editor

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