Strategic deployment of riparian buffers and windbreaks in Europe can co-deliver biomass and environmental benefits

Abstract

Within the scope of the new Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, in coherence with other EU policies, new incentives are developed for farmers to deploy practices that are beneficial for climate, water, soil, air, and biodiversity. Such practices include establishment of multifunctional biomass production systems, designed to reduce environmental impacts while providing biomass for food, feed, bioenergy, and other biobased products. Here, we model three scenarios of large-scale deployment for two such systems, riparian buffers and windbreaks, across over 81,000 landscapes in Europe, and quantify the corresponding areas, biomass output, and environmental benefits. The results show that these systems can effectively reduce nitrogen emissions to water and soil loss by wind erosion, while simultaneously providing substantial environmental co-benefits, having limited negative effects on current agricultural production. This kind of beneficial land-use change using strategic perennialization is important for meeting environmental objectives while advancing towards a sustainable bioeconomy.

Lignin-first biorefining of Nordic poplar to produce cellulose fibers could displace cotton production on agricultural lands

“…Poplars as alleys or buffer zones strategically placed between fields with annual crops and ditches, rivers, lakes in agricultural landscapes would significantly reduce flow of nutrients leaching to watercourses. 16 Further advantages with fast-growing trees comprise reduced N 2 O emissions to atmosphere; 69,70 reduced soil erosion caused by surface water runoff, 71 tillage, or wind; 72 reduced carbon loss from agricultural soils; 73 and increased biodiversity. 74,75 Currently, 34.5 M ha fertile agricultural land is used to produce the annual demand of 26.2 M tonnes cotton fiber.…”

“…13 In addition to wood production, Populus plantations provide other ecosystem services in terms of enhanced biodiversity, 14 the ability to utilize transiently high amounts of water for growth in a changing climate with extreme rainfalls, and in the accumulation of nutrients leached from adjacent agricultural soils. 15,16 This multifunctionality makes SRF with Populus an important tool to increase ecosystem resilience and contributes to the actions for climate neutrality proposed by the European Green Deal. [17][18][19] Conversion of lignocellulose to textile fiber requires pulping.…”

Overview of Suitability of Fast Growing Tree Species (Salix spp., Populus spp., Alnus spp.) for Establishment of Economic Agroforestry Zones for Biomass Producing in Baltic Sea Region Climatic Conditions

“…Over the next 30 years, in-depth studies were conducted on the effects of agroforestry zones on nitrogen (N) pollution [21,22], phosphorus (P) pollution [23,24] and various other pollutants. 30-99% nitrate (N) and 20-100% phosphorus (P) from runoff and shallow groundwater are retained in coastal agroforestry zones [25], this regards also to production of biomass from there [1,3,5,[26][27][28][29][30].…”

“…Climate change and increasing biomass demand for bioenergy and at the same time expected to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) missions and provide carbon storage in soils and vegetation, are projected to add further pressure on managed economic agroforestry zones [1][2][3][4][5]. The agriculture sector is at the same time expected to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and provide carbon storage in soils and vegetation, while reducing also other environmental impacts [5][6][7][8]. European Green Deal plan foresee that multiple sustainability and climate neutrality in Eurpean Union (EU) countries will be achieved by 2050 [9].…”

Biomass Production and Nutrient Removal by Perennial Energy Grasses Produced on a Wet Marginal Land

“…In addition to ecosystem service benefits, perennial grasses grown as buffers can be harvested to provide a feedstock for bioenergy production [5,7]. Biomass feedstock production using perennial grasses on marginal lands can have significant contributions to the nation's bioenergy goals with minimum adverse effects on existing agricultural land [4,8,9].…”