In the past few years, we are also focused on climate change mitigation projects in response to the current global climate emergency.
Burn-Free Project in Southeast Asia
Background
Agricultural burning is widely practiced in many countries. It involves open field burning of crop residue and weeds after harvesting and forest burning for land clearance. Crop residue open burning (CROB) releases greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) as well as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ammonia (NH3), sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM) and black carbon (BC). Crop residue burning is the second-largest contributor to black carbon in South Asia (Bond et al., 2013). Black carbon warms the lower atmosphere and is the second most important contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide.
Moreover, burning degrades soil quality. Soil is an important carbon sink (store). Fires can turn this carbon sink into a dangerous carbon source.
Objectives
The objectives of the project are to
(1) create and maintain a formal Burn-Free trademark and associated certification, registration, inspection, and monitoring standards and systems;
(2) promote burn-free practices and the reduced use of farm chemicals;
(3) set up marketing outlets and consumer networks to distribute burn-free certified produce at a slight premium; and
(4) launch consumer campaigns to encourage the general public to support and purchase the certified products.
Burn-Free trade mark across the world…
Thailand
In Thailand, 60 million tons of sugarcane are burned annually in the fields before harvesting. More than 29 million tons of rice straw and 1.9 million tons of corn stalk are burned each year.
How can we turn all this “waste” into value? We are taking action, offering viable solutions to reduce carbon emissions while protecting soil and forested areas.
CAPE collaborates with the Foundation for Agricultural and Environmental Conservation (Thailand), an NGO working on
- Promoting burn-free and chemical-free farm practices for clean air, food, and soil
- Establishing the first certification system to advance burn-free agricultural products with farmers, consumers, and industry and government partners
- Developing a burn-free and chemical-free market to benefit consumers and producers
In its first year of operation, FAEC-Thailand has
- Provided 120 trainings on burn-free and chemical-free agricultural practices for farmers in 38 provinces across Thailand
- Recruited more than 11,000 farmers to join our burn-free and chemical-free agriculture network
- Supported the transition of more than 20,000 hectares of farmland to burn-free practices
Our Burn-Free products certification system is the first of its kind, globally.
For more details, visit http://www.aecth.org/en
Indonesia
According to a recent report, an estimated 45 million tons of crop residue are open burned on an annual basis in Indonesia. This leads to the emission of greenhouse gases, with CO2 and CO accounting for 90% and 8% of overall emissions respectively. CH4, SO2, NOx, NH3, N2O, NMVOC, and particulate matter account for the remaining 2%. ….
We are looking for collaborator(s) to start a burn-free project in Indonesia. If you are interested, please contact us.
We are also seeking an experienced self-starter for the burn-free project in Indonesia.
Do you have a passion for making a difference in this planet?