Biokohle: Negative Emission Technologien sind nett zur Umwelt 2 (Biochar: NET-2-U-2)

In this follow up project we want to build on our successes and lessons learnt from the current Biochar NET-2-U project and further communicate our FWF funded and other biochar research findings to a wider public through a participation model of communication. Making the public aware of nature-based negative emission technologies (NETs), specifically this year we want to make tangible links to the Paris-COP (Conference of the Parties) Four per Mille campaign, which is an International Soils for Food Security and Climate Change initiative, which promotes soil based carbon sequestration as one of a basket of measures to alleviate the impacts of climate change. Biochar addition to soil fits well into this framework as a viable climate change combating strategy. By making links with this global initiative we want further engage the public in a horizontal dialogue on climate change and inspire attitude and behavioral changes, working both at local and global scales. In particular we want to highlight and publicize the role science plays in ensuring that these potential technologies are risk free and good for humanity, and are grounded in evidence based findings. Based on contacts made through this project and experiences gained we want to extend our public outreach to larger events aimed at urban and rural, wine and (small/allotment) klein gardeners thus building on our networking successes and reaching out to a much greater number of people. Again we will present our Kon-Tiki biochar kiln in action; a flaming center piece to inspire fire-side discussion. We will also present our newly developed Biochar-jiko, which is modified cook stove/micro-gasification unit being trialed in our ADA-research and development project in Uganda. We will underpin this crowd pulling strategy with an interactive semi-permanent exhibition about biochar and NETs, in Austria and beyond. This is a growing exhibition built around our science based biochar projects. We will produce specific information on the climate combating roles of soil in Four per mille and encourage people to commit to the Four per mille initiative, through backyard soil enhancing actions, (we will provide leaflets and advice on how to support the program). Moreover at each event we will encourage the public to participate in our next generation pot-scale Citizen Science endeavor; collaboratively investigating the benefits of using biochar to improve the nodulation of legumes and thus nitrogen fixation, we will confirm these results using state of the art stable isotope techniques. At a number of specific events we will again present the opportunity to provide feed-stock for the biochar production process and to receive back the resultant biochar. We will continue to work on the setting up of small-plot, researcher supported experiments in the Die Garten Tulln, with Natur im Garten and Sonnentor. Finally we will collect, collate and discuss and interpret the data bringing together all social actors in a Second Big-Biochar-Day where we want to foster a global outlook by making tangible links to on-going projects in developing countries.

We communicated our FWF funded and further biochar research findings, to a wider public through a participation model of communication. Biochar is a form of charcoal, produced from the pyrolysis of preferably waste stream products. It is manufactured specifically to be added to soils to improve soil quality. Making the public aware of nature-based negative emission technologies (NETs), specifically this year we made tangible links to the Paris-COP (Conference of the Parties) Four per Mille campaign, which is an International Soils for Food Security and Climate Change initiative, which promotes soil based carbon sequestration as one of a basket of measures to alleviate the impacts of climate change. Biochar addition to soil fits well into this framework as a viable climate change combating strategy. By making links with this global initiative we could further engage the public in a horizontal dialogue on climate change and inspire attitude and behavioral changes, working both at local and global scales. In particular, we highlighted and publicized the role science plays in ensuring that these potential technologies are risk free and good for humanity, and are grounded in evidence based findings. Based on contacts made through this project and experiences gained we further extended our public outreach to events aimed at urban and rural, wine and (small/allotment) klein gardeners and built on our networking successes. Again we presented our Kon-Tiki biochar kiln in action; a flaming center piece to inspire fire-side discussion. We also presented our newly developed Biochar-jiko, which is a modified cook stove/micro-gasification unit being trialed in our ADA-research and development project in Uganda. We underpinned this crowd pulling strategy with an interactive semi-permanent exhibition about biochar and NETs, in Austria and beyond. This is a growing exhibition built around our science based biochar projects. Moreover, at each event we encouraged the public to participate in our next generation pot-scale Citizen Science endeavor; collaboratively investigating the benefits of using biochar to improve the nodulation of legumes and thus nitrogen fixation, we confirmed these results by using state of the art stable isotope techniques. Finally, we collected, collated, discussed and interpreted the data by bringing together all social actors in a Second and Third Big-Biochar-Day where we fostered a global outlook by making tangible links to on- going projects in developing countries and as part of the Second workshop we produced a Biochar- Podcast.