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Computare
An Alberta CO2 Opportunity? – Biosinks
•Kyoto Protocol allows for biosinks
•Forest sinks  are capped
•Agricultural and grazing land sinks are not
•Sinks require land, water and nutrients
•The prairies provide lots of land that could use more water
•Energy can provide water and nutrients
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During the negotiating sessions at the United Nations, Canada argued for the inclusion of agricultural sinks without explicit limits. This was agreed to. Limits were defined for forest sinks in the developed countries and the stage was set to develop procedures for establishing and verifying the capacity of biological sinks.
So far agricultural sinks don’t seem to have garnered much attention in the media although their potential is of keen interest to the agriculture sector of Canada’s economy. Few of the many casual observers of the climate change scene seem to notice to date that taking maximum advantage of sinks will require land water, and nutrients.
Energy can be used to provide water and nutrients.
One of the participants in last falls Alberta Irrigation Projects Association conference was asked to make some projections for the future. One tongue-in cheek suggestion was that natural gas pipelines might ultimately be converted to pump water south from Alberta’s North.