International Workshop on Low Carbon Agriculture Held in Beijing

An international workshop on Low Carbon Agriculture was held on 15-16 October 2010 in Beijing. This was the interim workshop of SAIN project “Improved Nutrient Management in Agriculture – a Key Contribution to the Low Carbon Economy”. The workshop was attended by officials and academics from National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Princeton University, University of California (Davis), and University of Edinburgh, British Embassy in Beijing, UK Carbon Trust and project members.

This three-year project, started in April 2009, is funded by UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Chinese Ministry of Agriculture. The project is led by Prof David Powlson of Rothamsted Research, UK, and Prof Fusuo Zhang of China Agricultural University. On behalf of the project team, Prof David Powlson reported project progress at the workshop. Analysis to date indicates that a reduction of at least 2% of China’s total GHG emissions could be made by correcting the over-use of N fertilizer in agriculture. This can be achieved at low cost and delivers a range of other benefits. These include increased farm incomes, with benefits for the rural economy, and decreased water pollution which causes drinking water to exceed regulatory limits, has negative impacts on fisheries, and contributes to algal blooms in lakes and coastal seas.