Authoritative journal on environmental protection published the results of joint research by scientists of ASU and Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg

10 September 2020 Department of Information and Media Communications
Authoritative international periodical in the field of environmental protection, Science of The Total Environment journal, indexed simultaneously in Scopus and Web of Science databases (Q1, IF = 5.589), published the results of joint research by scientists from Altai State University and Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, devoted to the quantitative assessment of carbon changes in the soils of the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Altai Krai from 1956 (the beginning of virgin lands campaign) until 2014.

One of the leading specialists in soil hydrology and agrometeorology of ASU, Candidate of Geography, Assistant Professor at the Department of Economic Geography and Cartography Andrei A. Bondarovich, who joined the team of authors of the article entitled “Estimation of regional soil organic carbon stocks merging classified land-use information with detailed soil data”, clarified that this work is the result of many years of research by scientists of the two countries.

“The unique character of the results lies in the refinement of previously obtained estimates of carbon losses in Altai Krai under various types of land use and various types of soils over the past 60 years,” Andrei Bondarovich said. “Previously, the most pessimistic estimates showed an average carbon loss for various types of soils of up to 43% or even 64%, more optimistic options – less than 20%. Our team obtained a result of 13.9% for chestnut soils and southern black soils, and 23.3% for ordinary black soils. It is important to note that carbon losses on arable land at the local level over 60 years were balanced at the regional level by carbon accumulation on abandoned lands. The main difficulties in writing the article consisted in finding correspondences between different classifications of soils, land use and laboratory methods for determining the carbon content in soils existing in Russian and world practice.”

The scientist noted that global climate change had turned into an essential element of political manipulation. For example, the Kyoto Protocol (1997) obliged developed countries and countries with transition economies to reduce or stabilize emissions of 6 types of gas. Primarily carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). It was assumed that it was possible to regulate this problem by selling quotas for greenhouse gas emissions. So far, the mechanism for selling quotas in many countries has not been regulated and is being criticized.

The greatest contribution to the greenhouse effect and warming of the Earth is supposedly made by carbon dioxide (according to various estimates from 9 to 26%), and the result is carbon, which forms organic compounds that are the basis of life on Earth. The most striking example is humus, the main organic matter of the soil containing nutrients needed by plants. In this regard, the quantitative assessment of carbon on agricultural land and the impact of carbon removal through erosion processes on climate change are of great fundamental, applied and geopolitical importance.

For the study of this problem within Altai Krai for 5 years from 2011 to 2016, the efforts of Russian and German scientists were directed within the framework of the project “How to prevent the global dust bowl syndrome? Environmental and economic strategies for sustainable land use in arid steppes of Russia: contribution to global climate change”, hereinafter abbreviated as “Kulunda”. Scientists from the geographical, biological, physical and mathematical faculties of Altai State University took an active part in the project. And now, in 2019, after 8 years, the long-term efforts of Russian and German scientists were recognized by the world expert community.

Cooperation of Altai State University, German universities and research institutes, primarily Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, in science and education is still ongoing. In particular, we are talking about a joint German-Kazakh-Russian project: “Development of innovative climate-adapted methods for the sustainable use of agricultural resources in the arid steppes of Kazakhstan and southwestern Siberia “ReKKS”(2018–2021), as well as a joint master's program: "Environmental monitoring and planning". The ongoing work has a multiplying effect.

“Within the framework of this master's program, this year I developed a training course“ Methods of measuring and analyzing instrumental environmental monitoring data for sustainable management in the agricultural sector”, financially supported by Vladimir Potanin Foundation. This training course will make it possible to summarize the accumulated experience of Russian-German cooperation in the field of agroclimatic and soil monitoring and to prepare specialists corresponding to the world level of development of modern science and practice. This is one of the main goals,” Andrei Bondarovich concluded.

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