Application of Biochars for Soil and Water Conservation: A review

Soil and water resources are among the most important natural resources of every country that provide human and animals nutritional needs; but, unfortunately they are constantly abused and changed by human and inhuman factors. The use of biochars has been recently considered in the international scientific societies, as a strategy for soil and water conservation. Biochar is a porous carbon-rich material produced by heating any organic biomass in an oxygen-free environment through a process namely pyrolysis. Application of biochars would cause some achievements such as waste management, improvement of soil productivity and quality, reduction of runoff volume and pollutants, energy production and reducing environmental issues including climate change and water pollution. It should be noticed that, both soil and biochar affect the efficiency of biochars in fundamental functions of the soil. Considering the conducted studies, it can be concluded that the biochars has been mostly used for agricultural products and goals, and less for soil conservation. Biochar should be more considered for soil and water conservation due to its ability in runoff and erosion control, of course considering their adverse effects under different conditions.