Selection of potential areas and pasture management practices for carbon sequestration in Brazilian soil through mathematical modeling

• Grant number: 23/01409-1
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2023
• End date: June 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Soil Science
• Agreement: CNPq
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri
• Grantee: Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/15230-5 - Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Innovation - RCG2I, AP.PCPE
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/09533-3 - Selection of potential areas and pasture management practices for carbon sequestration in Brazilian soil through mathematical modeling, BP.JD

Abstract

The restoration of pasture areas is recognized and recommended by experts and international organizations as an essential strategy for mitigating climate change. It is due to the great potential for carbon sequestration and the feasibility of other impacts on ecosystem services. Brazil has recently committed the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to recover 15 million hectares of pasture. However, there are some gaps in understanding the effects of pasture recovery on changes in the soil's carbon stock, which hinder the advancement of more effective actions to take advantage of this resource, which may compromise the goals established by the NDC. In this sense, this project aims to evaluate, through mathematical modeling, different pasture recovery scenarios, aiming to enhance carbon sequestration in the main agricultural regions of Brazil. Additionally, this proposal will contribute to the central objective of the FAPESP thematic project (grant #2020/15230-5) entitled "Improving pasture management as NBS for soil carbon sequestration in Brazil". The proposed approach includes data collection and meta-analysis (carbon stock, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and ecosystem services) and applying the LandSHIFT, LPJmL, and DayCent models to assess pasture management practices. If successful, this project will answer questions about the effects of different management practices on pasture recovery, soil C stocks, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and ecosystem services. It is hoped that the research's technological and scientific products will help Brazil fulfill the goals established in the NDC. (AU)