People feel the effects of climate change every day. Summers are becoming fiercely hot, the monsoon does not bring the rain it should, and untimely heavy rain makes life hard for flood-hit people. The world is being struck by cyclones, floods, droughts and salinity, and greenhouse gases are a key driver.
Why trees are not enough
Greenhouse gases trap heat, so warmth produced by sunlight cannot escape, and the Earth keeps warming. Scientists say biochar technology could be a revolutionary addition to agriculture, helping keep temperatures in check while maintaining soil quality and natural balance.
A group of students led by Professor Dr Shamim Mia of the Department of Agronomy at Patuakhali Science and Technology University (PSTU) is working on biochar. He has researched it since his master's at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and PhD at the University of Sydney in Australia.
What biochar is
Professor Shamim explained that carbon dioxide is a major greenhouse gas. It was once thought that planting more trees would reduce carbon in the air, but a study at Cornell University in the US found that trees eventually release as much carbon dioxide as they take in, so planting alone cannot solve global warming. That study proposed converting the carbon in plants by pyrolysis and applying it to soil; this carbon is called biochar.
Biochar is a kind of charcoal made by heating organic matter such as wood, sawdust and organic waste without oxygen. Heating turns the material into simple aromatic benzene-based organic compounds, which soil microbes cannot easily break down, so biochar applied to soil stays for about 100 to 1,000 years.
Source: Shykh Seraj, Hridoye Mati O Manush. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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