Anthropogenic Dark Earths in Africa?

Lead Research Organisation: University of Sussex
Department Name: Sch of Global Studies

Abstract

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Description Objective 1: We have identified ADE analogues in Africa.

We identified a previously overlooked, indigenous soil management system in West Africa in which deliberately targets waste deposition around settlements produce enduringly fertile, carbon-rich soils that we call 'African Dark Earths' (AfDE) from highly-weathered, nutrient-poor ones . Whilst limited in area (1% of landscapes in Northwest Liberia), AfDE are prized by local farming communities and make disproportionately high contribution (up to 24%) of total household farming income. 14C radiocarbon dating shows that these soils developed within the last 700 years. These findings reveal ways to improve soil fertility and boost crop productivity in an ecologically and socially sustainable manner on otherwise poor soils. Since it also increases carbon storage on farmland, it exemplifies a 'climate-smart' agricultural strategy to tackle current food security and climate change challenges in resource-poor regions of the world (see Solomon, D., J. et. Al submitted to Nature). That AfDE have gone unnoticed despite more than a century of soil science in Africa reveals problems in the structuring of science and policy (see Fairhead, J. et. al. 2012)

Objectives 2 and 3: We have described and theorised the soil and social characteristics of AfDE, and their pathways of formation.

Soil analysis in Ghana and Liberia revealed AfDE to be similar to Amazonian ADE as their dark horizons are up to 1.80m deep, store 200-300% more organic carbon than background soils, accumulate 2 to 26 times more black carbon, are less acid, have 1.4 to 3.6 times greater nutrient retention capacity (CEC), and more plant nutrients (twice more Nitrates and up to 270 times more Phosphorous). Farmers value AfDE for cocoa and other tree crops (which in many locations cannot be grown on background soils), and intensive horticulture (not requiring fallows), so are significant for cash income and food security.

AfDE form around settlements as women (mainly) dump biomass waste and char around kitchens and food processing sites. We developed a gendered political ecology framework (integrating household, marriage and settlement practices) to explain their spatial distribution (see: Frausin, V. et. al).

AfDE formation is less attributable to the intentional deployment of any technology (though is sometimes intentional) than to the 'inevitable' effects of everyday life on soils and vegetation. Shifting socio-cultural, political and historical factors shape these and help explain how AfDE are actually experienced locally. We offered novel theorisation connecting phenomenology, historical ecology and political ecology to understand this (see: Fraser, J. submitted to Annals of the Association of American Geographers.)

Articles in preparation will provide further detail of AfDE formation pathways and social characteristics, especially for Ghana and Guinea; (b) detail relationships between AfDE and vegetation, and (c) link the findings with broader debates on sustainability and biodiversity.

Objectives 4 and 5:
(see Early and Anticipated Impact)

The potential benefits of mimicking AfDE are being overshadowed by controversies over its 'biochar' component. Carbon market interest is focusing research and development attention on biochar. Our findings concerning farmers' indigenous, socially and ecologically-embedded AfDE ideas and practices, suggest the need to be less reductive and to refocus biochar and 'climate smart' agriculture R&D to build on indigenous AfDE practices to be socially and ecologically sustainable (Leach, M. et. al 2012).
Exploitation Route Research into ADE offers a sustainable indigenous alternative to the potentially 'green-grabbing' biochar industry and policy. To develop global reach, Fairhead set up a collaborative research team that includes world-leading biochar soil scientists at Cornell University, Johannes Lehman (co-founder and chair of the International Biochar Initiative). In doing so they generated an immediate policy and business audience and were able to integrate AfDE research within partnerships between Cornell and African agronomic research and development. The AfDE research team have initiated a vibrant dialogue concerning AfDE within 'biochar' networks and collaborations that cross soil-science and agricultural-policy communities in Africa and beyond.

Future impact
This work has prompted a leading African-based research programme in Ethiopia to switch their initial focus on biochar and adopt AfDE as their model, developing practices to mimic/accelerate AfDE formation. Pilot trials conducted in 2012-13 are now being expanded into major regional trials in Ethiopia, and provide a model for an AfDE-inspired 'indigenous fertiliser' movement on the continent.
Sectors Agriculture, Food and Drink,Energy,Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Other
URL http://steps-centre.org/project/biochar/
 
Description Research on African Dark Earths and 'green grabbing' prompts international policy action and new sustainable agricultural practices Research reveals how environmental green agendas and the phenomenon of 'green grabbing' are depriving people of land and rights, and thus questions new market approaches to environmental sustainability. Reported globally, this work has had a significant impact, prompting the UN and leading global conservation organisations to recognise and take steps to avoid this problem, while providing pro-poor, climate-'smart' alternatives. Overview In recent years new 'green' markets have been developed to enable carbon and biodiversity offsetting and biofuel use in attempts to use market mechanisms to redress the environmental consequences of fossil fuel use and destructive development. These green markets now drive new global investments in forestry, conservation and much agriculture, but where does the land come from? When James Fairhead (Professor of Social Anthropology) and colleagues Ian Scoones and Melissa Leach at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), drew together a collection of case studies for the Journal of Peasant Studies, they found that such investments regularly displaced the poor from their lands and circumscribed their rights. Their analysis of the appropriation of land and resources for environmental agendas, dubbed 'green grabbing' revealed it to be a process of deep and growing significance that often produces poverty in its wake. Green grabbing has its origins in well-known activities of environmental displacement, for example, for parks or forest reserves. However, the new 'green' markets have brought new investors into this process. As nature becomes 'capital' there is increasing interest from pension funds, venture capitalists and commodity traders, from the mining, oil and gas industry, and from entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial non-profit organisations leading to new appropriations of land. A subtle dimension to 'green grabbing' had become apparent to Fairhead while he led a large team of colleagues from Ghana and Cornell in the United States in researching Anthropogenic Dark Earth Soils (ADE) in West Africa. These soils are enduringly rich, and gradually develop near farming villages, even in very poor soils, when inhabitants deposit the wastes associated with indigenous domestic and farming practices. This leaves the soil rich in many organic and inorganic materials that enduringly improve soil quality. While these soils have been recognised in Amazonian Brazil, where today's farmers value ADE that was formed many hundreds of years ago by pre-Colombian inhabitants, the Sussex-led team hypothesised and then established for the first time the existence and significance of analogous soils for West African farmers, terming these African Dark Earths (AfDE). The concern with 'green grabbing' derives from the fact that these soils are especially fertile, in part, because of their 'biochar' content. Biochar is charcoal produced by incomplete combustion of vegetation and when added to soils can help improve soil's condition whilst sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide. What concerned Fairhead was that it is global interest in sequestering carbon and associated new carbon markets that now drive interest in biochar technologies. This potentially biases research, reducing interest in ADE to biochar, drawing attention away from the potentially greater fertility benefits of mimicking ADE. Moreover, by drawing attention away from AfDEs, carbon markets are threatening large-scale 'green-grabs' for biochar feedstocks and land consolidation associated with economies of scale rather than building on more socially and ecologically appropriate AfDE practices. On the flip side, loud criticism of modern biochar technologies risks undermining advocacy for AfDEs. Achieving impact This research questioning the effects of new market approaches to environmental sustainability and drawing attention to green grabbing, has been reported globally, prompting the UN Expert Committee on World Food Security and leading global conservation organisations to recognise and take steps to address this problem. Through their work on AfDEs, Fairhead and colleagues provide a pro-poor, 'climate-smart' alternative to biochar that is already being mimicked by farmers in Ethiopia with plans for implementation in Sierra Leone. The special issue published in the Journal of Peasant Studies in 2012 evidenced concerns noted by the UN Expert Committee on World Food Security that acknowledged how conservation policy generates strong pressures to set aside land for environmental concerns in ways that can be understood as a land grab. It also led to a major gathering in 2013 on 'Conservation and Land Grabbing: Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?' Organised by the International Institute for Environment and Development, the International Land Coalition, the Zoological Society of London and Maliasili Initiatives, this conference brought together many international conservation agencies (the UN Environment Programme, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the UK's Department for International Development, amongst others) and the national conservation organisations of Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya. Subsequently, initiatives that specifically address this newly recognised problem have arisen, including calling for deliberation and resolutions to avoid and correct conservation-led land grabs at the World Parks Congress (2014). The policy impetus is due, in part, to coverage by major international news organisations (e.g. New York Times, al Jazeera) and activist news outlets (Europe-Solidaire, Global Justice Ecology Project), with further discussion and dissemination through leading professional and policy networks and lobby groups. Research into ADE offers a sustainable indigenous alternative to the potentially 'green-grabbing' biochar industry and policy. To develop global reach, Fairhead set up a collaborative research team that includes world-leading biochar soil scientists at Cornell University, Johannes Lehman (co-founder and chair of the International Biochar Initiative). In doing so they generated an immediate policy and business audience and were able to integrate AfDE research within partnerships between Cornell and African agronomic research and development. The AfDE research team have initiated a vibrant dialogue concerning AfDE within 'biochar' networks and collaborations that cross soil-science and agricultural-policy communities in Africa and beyond. Future impact This work has prompted a leading African-based research programme in Ethiopia to switch their initial focus on biochar and adopt AfDE as their model, developing practices to mimic/accelerate AfDE formation. Pilot trials conducted in 2012-13 are now being expanded into major regional trials in Ethiopia, and provide a model for an AfDE-inspired 'indigenous fertiliser' movement on the continent. Funding and partnership: Research initiatives on ADEs were funded by grants from the Leverhulme Trust (The Dark Earth Phenomenon: Sustainable Agriculture for Amazonia and Beyond?; £54,000) and ESRC (Amazonian Dark Earths in Africa? £450,000). Research on ADEs in Africa was conducted by James Fairhead and James Fraser at Sussex, Melissa Leach at IDS, together with international co-investigators, Kojo Amanor in Ghana, Dominique Millimouno in Guinea, and Johannes Lehmann and Dawit Solomon at Cornell (USA).
First Year Of Impact 2013
Sector Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Other
Impact Types Cultural,Societal,Economic
 
Description Business Opportunity: Collecting Animal Bones To Make Fertilizer In Ethiopia - See more at: http://afkinsider.com/119779/collecting-animal-bones-in-ethiopia-a-new-source-of-income/#sthash.T7P33bNF.dpuf 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Reporting of development of 'indigenous fertilizer' idea rooted in 'Dark Earth' technology
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015,2016
URL http://afkinsider.com/119779/collecting-animal-bones-in-ethiopia-a-new-source-of-income/
 
Description Climate-smart Sustainable Indigenous Fertilizer Development Using Value Chains of Agricultural and Agro-industrial Wastes in Ethiopia Pilot Project 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Powerpoint presentation at Kenya Biochar Africa workshop (presented by Dawit Solomon) outlining the use of ESRC funded AfDE research in developing indigenous fertilizers in Ethiopia

Prototype ferilizers under experimentation
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
 
Description Dissemination and Engagement trip by Dawit Solomon to Kenya, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Field trip report January 03-29, 2013
Are there Anthropogenic Dark Earths (AfDE) in Africa?
Ecological and agricultural importance of African Dark Earths to smallholder agriculture in Africa East (Kenya Serra Leone and Ethiopia)

Dawit Solomon1, Johannes Lehmann1, Melissa Leach2, James Fraser2, Kojo Amanor3, Victoria Frausin3, S?ren Kristiansen4, Dominique Millimouno5 & James Fairhead2
1. Cornell University
2. University of Sussex
3. University of Ghana
4. Aarhus University
5. University of Guinea

Kenya (Jan 07-11, 2013)
"Biochar Africa" Conference in Kisumu Kenya

As part of the African biochar initiative, our research group was invited to present the results of our investigation on AfDE and their ecological and agricultural importance to small holder agriculture in Africa at the "Biochar Africa" initiation conference which was held between January 8 and 10 in Kisumu, Kenya.
The presentation and dissemination effort was designed to highlight:
o The existence of AfDE in Africa
o What mix of social, ecological and technical factors are involved in the formation of AfDE?
o How do African farmers distinguish, value and use these soils?
o What is the significance of AfDE to livelihoods of African small farmers?
o The extent that AfDE share characteristics with Brazilian ADE?
The presentation clearly highlighted the ecological and agricultural importance of AfDE and indicated to the highly skeptical international audience that AfDE are intentionally created by West African farmers for soil improvement and unlike their Amazonian counter parts, they are not simply a by-product of habitation. The presentation also provide evidence that these soils are present as part of the local agoecological landscape in Liberia, Ghana and possibly in Sierra Leone and possibly in Sierra Leone and Guinea. Overall AfDE albeit entirely overlooked to-date, feature of the indigenous West African agricultural repertoire, which led to the formation of highly fertile and productive carbon-rich soils and indicate to the audience that our research group is currently looking at these soils and the soil management system which lead to their formation as a climate-smart sustainable soil management alternative for smallholder agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa. The follow up discussion was centered around how can researchers learn and may be use AfDE as a model for climate-smart sustainable soil management system that researchers now seek to mimic in smallholder agriculture elsewhere in the tropics including Sub-Saharan Africa. The conference was concluded by drafting "Biochar Africa's" vision, mission, objectives, and activities statements.

Affiliations of the "Biochar Africa" initiation conference participants:
1. Cornell University
2. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
3. The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
4. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
5. International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
6. University of Nairobi
7. Soil Research Institute: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Ghana
8. Re-char Kenya

Sierra Leone (Jan 13-19, 2013)
Ecological and agricultural importance of AfDE to smallholder agriculture in Serra Leone (Jan 13-19-2013)

The main purpose of the visit was to disseminate and discuss the African Dark Earths project findings and to seek possible collaborative follow-up work in Sierra Leone. The presentation and discussion was held at CARE-Sierra Leone Office, in Freetown. The presentation and follow up discussion was attended by university lecturer, researchers and extension educators and professionals from CARE-Sierra Leone, University of Njala, FoSED, IITA, Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI) and Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e. V. (German for World Hunger Aid).
The presentation was centered on the fact that:
o AfDE are not only of historical interest
o Understanding their mode of formation and chemistry and biology holds a great deal of scientific interest
o AfDE are highly prized by African farmers
o AfDE are highly fertile and productive and their mode of formation involve concentration of organic matter, ash and bone meal combined with pyrogenic C
o AfDE sequester enormous amounts of SOC due to a high proportion of charred or black C and if they can be mimicked, they are potentially very relevant to sustainable agriculture in Sierra Leone and other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. They can also play a significant role in climate-smart sustainable agriculture in Africa

A separate presentation on AfDE in Sierra Leone was also presented by Patrick Sawyers, a researcher from the University of Njala and the potential research opportunities using AfDE for improving Sierra Leone's agricultural practices while reducing atmospheric C and mitigating climate change were discussed by the group. Further discussion between the representatives of IITA, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, University of Njala, CARE-Sierra Leone and Cornell were also conducted on how future collaborations and joint proposals centered on agricultural problems can be drafted and how the lesson learned from AfDE can be to develop climate-smart soil management alternatives for Sierra Leone Agriculture.

Ethiopia (Jan 20-29, 2013)
Workshop -African Dark Earths and their possible role for climate-smart sustainable agriculture and indigenous fertilizer development in Ethiopia

Cornell-Jimma University and CARE-Ethiopia are currently running to pilot projects focused on tackling extensive loss of soil fertility, land degradation and crop yield decline, rural livelihood and food security and mitigating strategies to reduce vulnerability to climate variability.

The research group has proposed to develop "Sustainable biochar-based indigenous bio-fertilizer development from value chains of locally available waste-streams in Ethiopia" The group is currently working towards developing bio-fertilizer mixes from locally available waste streams and as part of the AfDE research group, we were invited to share our experience and finding and the role that AfDE could play in the area of:
o Enhancing soil fertility and soil health
o Reducing the need for artificial fertilizers and liming agents
o Improving proliferation of beneficial microorganisms
o Enhancing crop productivity while recognize the multiple economic constraints on agricultural wastes and other biomass residues
o Foster effective waste recycling
o Recover nutrients from agricultural and agro-industrial wastes
o Carbon capture and storage for mitigating climate change
The presentation and discussion of AfDE was framed along the following frame:


Extensive discussion were conducted between the Ethiopia government and non-governmental representatives present in the workshop based on the research results and finding of the African Dark Earths project and the role that these anthropogenic dark earths could play in climate-smart sustainable agriculture in Ethiopia. In addition, future collaborative and partnerships and collaborative joint proposal development opportunities were explored with Jimma University, CARE-Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Institute for Sustainable Development.

Affiliations of the workshop participants in Ethiopia:
1. Jimma University - College of Agricultural and Veterinary Medicine
2. Jimma University - College of Agricultural and Veterinary College
3. Jimma University - College of Business & Economics
4. Jimma University - College of Natural Sciences
5. Jimma University - College of Public Health and Medical Sciences
6. Jimma University - College of Social sciences and Law
7. Jimma University - Institute of Technology
8. CARE-Ethiopia
9. Ethiopian Institute for Sustainable Development

Additional discussions were also held in Addis Ababa with the Ethiopian Federal Government Agricultural Transformation Agencies' Soil Health Program Director and with US Embassy officials in Addis Ababa Ethiopia


In Ethiopia, fed into indigenous fertilizer programme development
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2013
 
Description Media campaign to disseminate findings 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Press release followed
(a) Blog on National Georaphic Website that led to media storm.
(b) Interview of Solomon by "Yale Climate Connections": (onsists of 90-second stories about how people are responding to our warming world. Today's episode features your commentary ancient West African farming techniques.?The show airs 5 days a week on approximately 263 radio stations, we're in the process of recruiting more stations, and we have a podcast available that people can subscribe to)
(c) Broadcast 5 days a week on 263 radio stations across the US: http://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2016/10/ancient-farming-practice-reduces-pollution/
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2016/06/africa-soil-farming-sust...
 
Description Presentation at European Geosciences Union General Assembly 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact What is the significance of the findings? The amount of organic matter is definitely different between AfDE and non-AfDE soils. This is what existing papers have shown. This study aimed at trying to characterize the chemical composition of the organic matter and compare/contrast that composition between the two soil types. We know that the AfDE soils contain much more char-derived carbon. This char-derived (black) carbon is typically thought to be highly recalcitrant and doesn't cycle much. On the flipside, we know the AfDE soils are much more fertile than non-AfDE soils. Fertility usually comes from the cycling of nutrients (and associated carbon) rather than from nutrients and carbon that are "locked up" in recalcitrant forms. Given that, this work wanted to see if one could identify an extractable pool of organic matter that could represent the pool that contributes to fertility. Turns out the extractable pools are different in proportion between the AfDE and non-AfDE soils, but so far the chemical composition of that pool doesn't appear to be so different. That last observation is, however, preliminary and subject to further study of the data.


Spin off of the research into futher soil and geogscience dialogues
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCgQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%...
 
Description Presentation at the international conference on Indigenous Knowledge and Climate Chang, 2 to 3 November 2016 in Marrakech, Morocco. co-organized by UNESCO and the French National Centre for Scientific Research in partnership with the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC) and Tebtebba. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Presentation of paper at conference in preparation for UN FCC entitled "700 year-old indigenous African soil enrichment technique as a climate-smart global sustainable agriculture alternative" that profiled AFDE research in Africa.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016