Project Contact

• Chris Brown, Macaulay Land Use Research Institute
• Dr Robin Matthews, Macaulay Land Use Research Institute
• Professor Pete Smith, University of Aberdeen

Project Summary

One of the aims of the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Strategy is to decouple the link between carbon emissions and economic activity. The agriculture, forestry and the land use sector is important in that not only is it a contributor to the national economy, but it can act as a source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as a carbon store. Various options for reducing the net emissions of GHGs from this sector have been proposed, including alternative ‘carbon-neutral’ energy crops, increased carbon sequestration through different ground covers and land management, reducing CH4 emissions from livestock, more efficient use of organic and inorganic fertilisers, and increased afforestation. Several of these options, however, involve a cost to the land manager, so that individual interests of making a livelihood conflict with societal goals of reducing GHG emissions.

This NERC CASE studentship project builds on research currently funded by the Scottish Government to model the emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O from mineral soils as well as soils with high soil organic matter content common in Scotland (the ECOSSE model). The innovative component of the work is the integration of this modelling activity with the agent-based modelling approach used in the People and Landscape Model (PALM) that attempts to simulate the factors influencing the decisions made by individual land managers. The work will contribute to a greater understanding of the land use strategies that may contribute to a decoupling of GHG emissions from economic performance. Although we will use Scotland as our case study, the findings will enhance our understanding of the link between economic activity and GHG emissions more broadly.

Farming and Bio-Energy Survey

In association with