Rome/Accra - Africa could be taking more carbon out of the atmosphere that it releases, thus helping to counter the effect of greenhouse emissions on global warning, a UN agency said Tuesday.

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is basing its observations on a research project, CarboAfrica involving 15 institutions from Africa and Europe, including FAO.

Studying wild fires in South Africa's Kruger Park, carbon dioxide flows in the rainforest of Ghana or weather patterns in Sudan, the research indicates that, as opposed to its minor part in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil fuels - less then 4 per cent of the world's total - Africa makes a major contribution to GHG emissions from natural sources, FAO said.

As to deforestation and fires, Africa accounts for 17 per cent and 40 per cent of the global aggregate emissions respectively. In addition, it strongly influences the atmospheric variations of CO2 between seasons, and from year to year - half of them can be attributed to Africa, it said.

"These first results show that Africa plays a key role in the global climate system," said CarboAfrica's project coordinator, Riccardo Valentini of the University of Tuscia, Italy said in a FAO statement.

However, Valentini stressed the balance between carbon captured through photosynthesis by Africa's vast expanse of forests and savannas, and carbon released into the atmosphere as a result of deforestation, fires and forest degradation.

"Our evidence so far indicates that Africa seems a 'carbon sink,' meaning that it takes more carbon out of the atmosphere then it releases," Valentini said.

"If confirmed, this implies that Africa contributes to reducing the greenhouse effect, thus helping mitigate the consequences of climate change."

"Agriculture must play a central role in reducing Africa's carbon emissions even more," said FAO Africa Regional Office Representative Maria Helena Semedo.

"We should reach out to farmers in Africa, teaching them how to use their land and their forests in such a way that Africa's carbon cycle becomes our ally in the battle against climate change," she said. "It is crucial, and possible, that such efforts contribute to increasing food security at the same time."

Semedo was speaking at the opening of a three-day meeting in Accra, Ghana discussing CarboAfrica's preliminary results, which are set to be finalized in 2010.

Semedo stressed that through appropriate soil management, such as practiced by conservation agriculture, GHG emissions from agriculture can be reduced, while at the same time increasing productivity and even harnessing agriculture against the woes of climate change. (dpa)