Assessing village-level carbon balance due to greenhouse gas mitigation interventions using EX-ACT model

Abstract

Under National Initiative on Climate ResilientAgriculture (NICRA) project, a range of climate smartagricultural practices were evaluated with on-farmdemonstrations during 2011–2013 in eight climaticallyvulnerable villages of Andhra Pradesh, India. Proven cli-mate smart practices viz residue recycling, soil, water andnutrient management, afforestation and feeding ?breedingpractices in livestock were implemented in annual andperennial crops, irrigated rice, horticulture, fodder, forestryand livestock. An EX-ante carbon-balance tool (EX-ACT)developed by the FAO was used with a combination ofvarious climate smart interventions to know the mitigationpotentials in eight climatically vulnerable villages ofAndhra Pradesh, India. Based on our observations, EX-ACT model had shown that these practices were effectiveto mitigate CO2emissions apart from enhancing soil pro-ductivity. In Nacharam, Yagantipalli, Sirusuwada andMatsyapuri villages, climate smart practices implementedin annual crops along with crop residue recycling, crop andwater management practices resulted in negative carbon(C) balance by -16,410, -8851, -7271 and -6125 t CO2e, respectively. The EX-ACT model predicted positivecarbon balance with irrigated module in the rice-growingvillages of Sirusuwada and Matsyapuri villages. Thenegative values suggest a sink, and positive values a sourcefor CO2emissions. In Chamaluru village, although therewere CO2emissions (source) due to livestock and non-forest and land use changes, there was a carbon sink due toother activities as predicted by the model. The resultssuggested that various climatic smart practices at the vil-lage level were successful in creating net sink of CO2emissions (t CO2e)