13 February 2009: The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has submitted to the fifth Session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA 5) a proposal stressing the need to include in the UNFCCC negotiation agenda practical approaches, such as biochar-related (charcoal) mitigation, focusing on increased land productivity.

The submission notes that actions related to sustainable land management influence directly, through the soil component, the increased capture and sequestration of carbon and other greenhouse gases that mitigate global climate change. It emphasizes that the recognition of soil carbon as a greenhouse gas abatement technology can be optimally achieved with the utilization of biochar, including through inclusion of biochar in the Clean Development Mechanism along with afforestation and reforestation that are currently already included. [UNCCD Submission]