Reindeer pastures may mitigate climate change
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Reindeer pastures may mitigate climate change

January 25, 2024

The tundra food supply actively absorbs greenhouse gases and even methane.

#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Geography Institute have found that pastures not only serve as food for animals, but also actively absorb greenhouse gases, which are one of the main causes of global warming.

The scientific research that led to this conclusion was carried out by members of the RHYTHM Carbon consortium as part of the most important innovative project of national importance Russian Climate Monitoring System.

Despite the fact that the characteristics of pastures cause a fairly high emission of carbon dioxide from the soil, plants on them are able to accumulate carbon from the atmosphere in phytomass, and then transfer it to the soil and thus mitigate climate change. Pastures also absorb methane, doing so at almost the same intensity as arable land.

“Pastures are interesting because they are the intersection of two branches of agriculture – crop production and livestock production. Modern farms are mostly large complexes that raise animals indoors and use compound food. Pasture farming remains only in regions with extensive farming based on the movement of livestock to winter and summer pastures. Examples of this form can be reindeer husbandry in the North and sheep husbandry in the south”, said Olga Suhoveyeva, senior researcher at the Biogeography Laboratory of the RAS Geography Institute.

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Text: Denis Kozhevnikov, Photo: author

January 25, 2024

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