Methodological approaches to the formation of a unified national system for monitoring and accounting the balance of carbon and greenhouse gas emissions are considered. The purpose, typification, requirements for the spatial placement of “carbon” polygons, assessment of the carbon absorption capacity of forests and agricultural ecosystems in the Russian Federation, the standard methodology recommended by the international community for assessing carbon stocks in soils, which should be applied in the Russian Federation to ensure comparability of the results of greenhouse gas accounting between countries, determination of the carbon absorption capacity of natural ecosystems and soils are discussed. The potential of carbon uptake by agricultural soils is shown. The list of indicators for assessing soil carbon according to the IPCC methodology for Tiers 2 and 3 is given. Taking into account the analysis of international practice, as well as on the basis of theoretical and applied experience of national science, the priority measures have been developed, they are aimed at working out and implementation of the national strategy for the use of terrestrial ecosystems in order to regulate greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change.

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The implementation of the "4 per mille" or "4 per 1000" Initiative in Russia can be one of the instruments mitigating concentration of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It is estimated that the total annual absorption of carbon dioxide (CO 2), including natural dynamics and application of carbon saving technologies in agriculture, can be as much as 23-28 % of annual emission of the gas into the atmosphere. The "4 per 1000" Initiative mechanism will operate successfully for 12-15 years, which corresponds to the time of saturation of arable soil with carbon. The implementation of the "4 per mille" Initiative is not only Russia's positioning among the countries that support sustainable, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly development, but also demonstrates the ability of the country to realize its competitive advantages in demand in the low-carbon world.

The methods of Russian soil biology for the purposes of the investigations of soils microbiome were studied. The most important methods are cross-disciplinary investigations of plant and microbial interactions, the role of microbiome in the forming of soil fertility and carbon cycle. For the purposes of the most complete description of soil microbiome functions we suggest to combine the methods of metagenomics (for the purposes of the assessment of the phylogenic diversity of the microorganisms), biomarkers analysis (for the purposes of determination of the functional diversity) and the changes in the enzyme activity (for the purposes of the assessment of the actual functioning of soils). The investigation of correlation of the structural soil hierarchy (from aggregates and microloci to the soil areas) and levels of microbial community organization (from microbial populations to bio-geographic regularities) will allow us to understand better the distribution and common specificities of soil and microorganisms interactions. Along with the investigation of spatial organization we suggest to study the dynamics of the soil microbiomes on different time lines: short-term changes (on the field monitoring areas), transformation during the soil forming process (on the “chronosequences” of the soil of a different age) and at the geologic time scale (on the example of buried soils). In this paper we consider the importance of the investigation of the diversity of the soil microorganisms as a source of the suppressing activity of soils as the largest depository of genetic information, important agent of the emission and fixation of atmospheric carbon. The comparative analysis of microbial diversity of disturbed and undisturbed soils and the assessment of outer impact on the soil microbiome is necessary for the preservation of soil biodiversity as one of the most valuable ecologic and biotechnologic resource.

The paper presents a great variety of anthropogenic effects on chernozems against the background of natural and climatic changes; their consequences are shown as well. Changes in regimes, processes and some properties of chernozems are estimated as genetically predetermined to be a current evolution stage of the soil formation. Different kinds of natural and anthropogenic effects, their complicated interactions that lead to the serious transformation of the structure and properties of chernozems are considered as a methodological platform for scientific research.