Think How To Sink

The best way to remove carbon is by sequestering it in its natural sinks

- Chandra Bhushan

THERE IS one thing that worries climate scientists universally: the positive feedback loop. This is a process where changing one quantity changes the second one, and the change in the second quantity, in turn, changes the first. Scientists fear a positive feedback loop may spiral the climate crisis out of control.

Desertification is an example of a positive feedback loop, just as the melting of the Arctic ice cap, thawing of the Siberian permafrost, and the large-scale release of methane from methane hydrate lying on the sea and ocean floors. The climate crisis is causing desertification and, in turn, desertification is exacerbating the crisis. The cycle continues.

Let me explain this, but first a disclaimer: this is an oversimplified version of an extremely complex process.

Soil is one of the largest repositories of carbon on our planet. In fact, there is three times more carbon in the soil than in the atmosphere. Carbon loss from soil has been happening since the beginning of settled agriculture, but this is now being exacerbated by desertification. The emissions of soil carbon to the atmosphere are contributing to global warming. The latest data indicates that land degradation is responsible for annual global emissions of 3.6- 4.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) or 10 to 12 percent of the total emissions. Just to contextualize, CO 2 emissions from land degradation is about 50 percent higher than the total CO 2 emissions of India, the third-largest emitter in the world. So, land degradation is a significant contributor to the climate crisis.