Recarbonizing global soils - A technical manual of recommended management practices

During the last decades, soil organic carbon (SOC) attracted the attention of a much wider array of specialists beyond agriculture and soil science, as it was proven to be one of the most crucial components of the earth’s climate system, which has a great potential to be managed by humans. Soils as a carbon pool are one of the key factors in several Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 15, “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss” with the SOC stock being explicitly cited in Indicator 15.3.1.

This technical manual is the first attempt to gather, in a standardized format, the existing data on the impacts of the main soil management practices on SOC content in a wide array of environments, including the advantages, drawbacks, and constraints. This manual presents different sustainable soil management (SSM) practices at different scales and in different contexts, supported by case studies that have been shown with quantitative data to have a positive effect on SOC stocks and successful experiences of SOC sequestration in practical field applications.

The manual includes the following volumes:

Volume 1 - Introduction and methodology:  Volume 1 is an introduction to the full collection and presents the detailed methodology and structure.

Volume 2 - Hot spots and bright spots of soil organic carbon: Volume 2 includes a description of hot spots of SOC stocks. This manual defines hot spots of SOC as areas that represent a proportionally little of the global land surface but on which SOC storage is highly effective; bright spots as large land areas with low SOC stocks per km2 that represent a potential for further carbon sequestration.

Volume 3 - Cropland, grassland, integrated systems and farming approaches - Practices overview: Volume 3 includes a total of 49 practices that have a direct impact on SOC sequestration and maintenance in cropland, grassland, integrated systems and farming approaches.

Volume 4 - Cropland, grassland, integrated systems and farming approaches - Case studies: Volume 4 includes 51 case studies dealing with cropland, grassland, integrated systems and farming approaches.

Volume 5 - Forestry, wetlands, urban soils – Practices overview: Volume 5 includes 24 practices that have a direct impact on SOC sequestration and maintenance in forestry, wetlands and urban soils.

Volume 6 - Forestry, wetlands, and urban soils – Case studies: Volume 6 includes 30 case studies dealing with forestry, wetlands and urban soils management.