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The Role of Small Woody Landscape Features and Agroforestry Systems for National Carbon Budgeting in Germany

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  • Karolina Golicz

    (Institute for Landscape Ecology and Resources Management (ILR), Research Centre for BioSystems, Land Use and Nutrition (iFZ), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26, 35392 Giessen, Germany)

  • Gohar Ghazaryan

    (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany)

  • Wiebke Niether

    (Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding II, Organic Farming, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Karl-Glöckner-Str. 21 C, 35394 Giessen, Germany)

  • Ariani C. Wartenberg

    (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany
    Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA)

  • Lutz Breuer

    (Institute for Landscape Ecology and Resources Management (ILR), Research Centre for BioSystems, Land Use and Nutrition (iFZ), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26, 35392 Giessen, Germany
    Centre for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Senckenbergstrasse 3, 35390 Giessen, Germany)

  • Andreas Gattinger

    (Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding II, Organic Farming, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Karl-Glöckner-Str. 21 C, 35394 Giessen, Germany
    Centre for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Senckenbergstrasse 3, 35390 Giessen, Germany)

  • Suzanne R. Jacobs

    (Institute for Landscape Ecology and Resources Management (ILR), Research Centre for BioSystems, Land Use and Nutrition (iFZ), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26, 35392 Giessen, Germany
    Centre for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Senckenbergstrasse 3, 35390 Giessen, Germany)

  • Till Kleinebecker

    (Centre for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Senckenbergstrasse 3, 35390 Giessen, Germany
    Division of Landscape Ecology and Landscape Planning, Institute of Landscape Ecology and Resource Management (ILR), Research Centre for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition (iFZ), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff Ring 26, 35392 Giessen, Germany)

  • Philipp Weckenbrock

    (Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding II, Organic Farming, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Karl-Glöckner-Str. 21 C, 35394 Giessen, Germany)

  • André Große-Stoltenberg

    (Centre for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Senckenbergstrasse 3, 35390 Giessen, Germany
    Division of Landscape Ecology and Landscape Planning, Institute of Landscape Ecology and Resource Management (ILR), Research Centre for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition (iFZ), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff Ring 26, 35392 Giessen, Germany)

Abstract

The intensification of food production systems has resulted in landscape simplification, with trees and hedges disappearing from agricultural land, principally in industrialized countries. However, more recently, the potential of agroforestry systems and small woody landscape features (SWFs), e.g., hedgerows, woodlots, and scattered groups of trees, to sequester carbon was highlighted as one of the strategies to combat global climate change. Our study was aimed to assess the extent of SWFs embedded within agricultural landscapes in Germany, estimate their carbon stocks, and investigate the potential for increasing agroforestry cover to offset agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We analyzed open-source geospatial datasets and identified over 900,000 hectares of SWFs on agricultural land, equivalent to 4.6% of the total farmland. The carbon storage of SWFs was estimated at 111 ± 52 SD teragrams of carbon (Tg C), which was previously unaccounted for in GHG inventories and could play a role in mitigating the emissions. Furthermore, we found cropland to have the lowest SWF density and thus the highest potential to benefit from the implementation of agroforestry, which could sequester between 0.2 and 2 Tg of carbon per year. Our study highlights that country-specific data are urgently needed to refine C stock estimates, improve GHG inventories and inform the large-scale implementation of agroforestry in Germany.

Suggested Citation

  • Karolina Golicz & Gohar Ghazaryan & Wiebke Niether & Ariani C. Wartenberg & Lutz Breuer & Andreas Gattinger & Suzanne R. Jacobs & Till Kleinebecker & Philipp Weckenbrock & André Große-Stoltenberg, 2021. "The Role of Small Woody Landscape Features and Agroforestry Systems for National Carbon Budgeting in Germany," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:1028-:d:647683
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