Is biochar a part of the climate change solution?

David Lee in the Jamaica Observer: … What are the beneficial attributes of biochar, as incorporated in soil? Detailed examination of terra preta suggests that pyrolysis by the Amazon natives had been done at relatively low temperature, perhaps 350 C, instead of about 500 C for charcoal nowadays. This would have resulted in the retention of presumably beneficial volatiles which would normally be lost in the high temperature process. It is also undergoing a parallel and comparable interest as a soil ameliorant.

The practical consequence of [its physical] properties, as reported by many accounts, is an almost "miraculous" ability to promote plant growth, in comparison with unamended soils as control, and also when, as control, conventionally fertilised soils were used.
Growth improvement, of course, is dependent on original soil quality, it being minimal where the soil is ideal in all respects, and very marked when it is poor.

Perhaps as important as the agricultural implications, is the promise of biochar for climate change mitigation. For each cycle of pyrolysis and at least partial use of the resultant char for soil amendment, part of the carbon that was a major portion of the ligneous material becomes sequestered for an indefinite period. It would take many cycles, on a vast scale, to effect significantly reduced levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. But no schemes considered are free of this scale constraint.

…Only Belize, it seems, of the English-speaking Caribbean countries, is presently participating in biochar studies. It should behove us to have a local investigation into the topic for the reasons already stated, and also for the implications for the local agricultural situation, which benefits that biochar potentially offers….

That's Amazonian terra preta on the right, shot by Bruno Glaser or Rsukiennik, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license