The first of the projects was the Life + Agricarbon "Sustainable Agriculture in Carbon Arithmetic", within the framework of the Technical Session No. 5 "Carbon sinks and their role in climate neutrality" held on November 28. This session was divided in two parts. In the first part, it was spoken about sinks within international framework, and afterward different types of tools that work as carbon sinks were highlighted. The second part showed practical cases and real projects in Spain related to development of carbon sinks, where the Life + Agricarbon Project was presented to the audience.
The presentation was carried out by the technical director Óscar Veroz who highlighted all the benefits that, regarding atmospheric carbon fixation in the soil, had meant the implantation and development of the Conservation Agriculture in demonstration farms. Óscar Veroz, explained that during the four years of the project, and thanks to the area in Spain in which no-till management techniques were used, the emissions of 1,000,000 Spanish citizens had been compensated.
During the afternoon session, Technical Session No. 12 "Agriculture, soils and climate change" was held, coordinated by the AEAC.SV. The session began with a series of presentations that generally presented the problems and situation of the soil in relation to the most agricultural practices, and the initiatives taken by the administrations to solve this problem, with initiatives such as the Route of the Diffuse Sectors to 2030 of the Spanish Climate Change Office or the Life Clinomic Project, led by the Barcelona’s Deputation. After this part, initiatives framed within the Life Program led by private organizations were presented, the moment when the Life + Climagri Project was presented to the attendees. The presentation was held by Antonio Holgado, technician of the European Conservation Agriculture Federation (ECAF), who showed the results achieved in the first agricultural campaign of a project that operates in four countries in the Mediterranean area: Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece.
To conclude the session, three farmers, Miguel Barnuevo, Rafael Calleja and Javier Alejandre, participated in an open debate. They use Conservation Agriculture practices as agricultural techniques to improve soil quality. Throughout this debate, the participants described their beginnings, how they dealt with difficulties and endorsed the viability of the used system, from the environmental, economic and social point of view.
In this, three-hour long session, they tried to explain the importance of soil in the agricultural ecosystem, its relationship with climate change, and how the implementation of certain management systems, such as Conservation Agriculture, can help mitigate the effects of global warming and improve soil quality.
Many issues, which have not been addressed, will surely be discussed in the next edition of CONAMA in 2018.
