KBSU received a land plot for a carbon landfill

An agreement on cooperation in the field of carbon balance control was concluded between the Kabardino-Balkarian State University named after H.M. Berbekov and the Supply and Marketing Processing Service Agricultural Consumer Cooperative «Agrodar» (KBR, Chegem 2 village) Document signed by acting Rector of KBSU Yuri Altudov and Chairman of Agrodar Rizuan Didanov determined that a land plot with an intensive-type apple orchard with an area of ​​103 hectares in the Prokhladnensky municipal district of Kabardino-Balkaria is transferred to the university for free use to create one of the sections of the agrarian carbon landfill — a territory with a unique ecosystem, created to implement measures to control climate-active gases.

In February 2021, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation launched a pilot project to create carbon polygons in the regions of Russia for the development and testing of carbon balance control technologies with the participation of universities and scientific organizations. The implementation of the project in the KBR is planned within the framework of a consortium with the participation of such organizations as the High-Mountain Geophysical Institute of Roshydromet (Nalchik), the Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Ecology of Mountain Territories. A.K. Tembotov Russian Academy of Sciences (Nalchik), Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution «North Caucasian Research Institute of Mountain and Foothill Horticulture» (Nalchik), Kabardino-Balkarian Center for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring, Agrochemical Service Station «Kabardino-Balkarskaya», Kabardino- Balkarian reference center of Rosselkhoznadzor. And about. Rector of KBSU Yuri Altudov, what tasks will scientists solve: “On the carbon range, KBSU specialists, together with colleagues, plan to conduct a number of important studies in the field of ecology and climate change: experiments on the development and testing of ground-based and remote technologies for measuring emissions (emissions) and absorption of climate-active gases; monitoring of the carbon balance and environmental and economic assessment of agricultural technologies and their impact on agrocenoses; development and testing of an IoT platform to support intensive gardens”.

“Young people have a request for a nature-positive lifestyle,” — said Zaur Zashakuev, director of the KBSU technology transfer office. – The agrarian carbon polygon being created in Kabardino-Balkaria should become a place for training students, graduate students and researchers in such areas as climatology, bioecology, geoecology, agrometeorology, mathematical and computer modeling and other areas related to ecology and climate. In addition, the carbon landfill will become a platform for young scientists to launch interdisciplinary research projects in the field of the latest environmental control methods and promising decarbonization technologies for agriculture.”

To create a carbon complex, it is necessary to purchase a set of equipment for measuring greenhouse gas fluxes by the turbulent pulsation method, a set of equipment for measuring greenhouse gas emissions from the soil surface using the chamber method, a set of equipment for ground-based determination of the characteristics and properties of vegetation, chemical analysis of samples of vegetation, soil and water, a complex remote sensing of the earth’s surface based on drones and professional automatic weather stations In 2022, it is planned to submit to the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia a joint proposal from KBSU and its partners in the consortium to create an agricultural carbon landfill in the KBR. If the project is defended, the ministry will allocate co-financing mainly for the purchase of the missing research equipment. It is also expected that the project will be co-financed by the region and interested industrial partners — the Agricultural Supply and Marketing Consumer Processing Service Cooperative «Zolka Agro» and JSC «KBR Development Corporation». This work is in the negotiation stage.