Towards a global-scale soil climate mitigation strategy

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 5427
• Main Authors: Amelung, W., Bossio, D., de Vries, W., Kögel-Knabner, I., Lehmann, J., Amundson, R., Bol, R., Collins, C., Lal, R., Leifeld, J., Minasny, B., Pan, G., Paustian, K., Rumpel, C., Sanderman, J., van Groenigen, J. W., Mooney, S., van Wesemael, B., Wander, M., Chabbi, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 27-10-2020; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 704/106; 704/158; 704/172; 704/47; Agricultural land; Agricultural management; Agricultural sciences; Carbon; Carbon sequestration; Climate change; Climate change mitigation; Crop yield; Global climate; Humanities and Social Sciences; Incentives; Life Sciences; multidisciplinary; Organic carbon; Organic soils; Perspective; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Soil conditions; Soil degradation; Soil improvement; Soil management; Soils
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18887-7

Sustainable soil carbon sequestration practices need to be rapidly scaled up and implemented to contribute to climate change mitigation. We highlight that the major potential for carbon sequestration is in cropland soils, especially those with large yield gaps and/or large historic soil organic carbon losses. The implementation of soil carbon sequestration measures requires a diverse set of options, each adapted to local soil conditions and management opportunities, and accounting for site-specific trade-offs. We propose the establishment of a soil information system containing localised information on soil group, degradation status, crop yield gap, and the associated carbon-sequestration potentials, as well as the provision of incentives and policies to translate management options into region- and soil-specific practices.
Reducing soil degradation and improving soil management could make an important contribute to climate change mitigation. Here the authors discuss opportunities and challenges towards implementing a global climate mitigation strategy focused on carbon sequestration in agricultural soils, and propose a framework for guiding region- and soil-specific management options.