Grounding United States policies and programs in soil carbon science: strengths, limitations, and opportunities

Abstract

The advent of “natural climate solutions” and “climate smart agriculture” has increased interest in managing agricultural lands to sequester soil carbon and mitigate climate change. This has led to enormous opportunities for soil scientists and growers alike, as new soil carbon initiatives are created by public, private, and philanthropic entities. It has also led to confusion over what is possible or practical to achieve through agricultural management, as soil carbon formation and storage is complex, and its response to management is context-dependent. This can pose challenges to decision makers tasked with creating defensible, science-informed policies and programs for building and protecting soil carbon. Here we summarize the science concerning the potential for agricultural soils to serve as a natural climate solution, in order to frame a discussion of current approaches in United States (US) policy and practice. We examine existing strategies such as soil health initiatives and direct incentive payments, as well as emerging schemes such as carbon markets and crop insurance reform. We suggest future directions for each strategy, and make recommendations for synthesizing approaches into a cohesive US policy portfolio. Guiding principles for this discussion include the notions that (i) climate change adaptation must be prioritized alongside climate change mitigation; (ii) soil carbon sequestration must be paired with greenhouse gas emission reductions; (iii) structural issues and barriers to adoption must be addressed as part of all policies and programs; (iv) practice- and place-specific programs must be administered in lieu of one-size-fits-all prescriptions; and (v) soil carbon science is not yet sufficiently advanced for the accounting and contractual frameworks proposed in cap-and-trade or regulatory approaches.

Forty years of soil research funded by the European Commission: Trends and future. A systematic review of research projects

“…For instance, China released in 2016 the national action plan for prevention and control of soil pollution aiming to improve soil quality (Li et al, 2019). By 2021 in the United States, 20 states formalized soil health initiatives through resolutions and laws by 2021 (Gelardi et al, 2023). Similarly, Australia's first national policy on soil was released in 2021 (DAWE, 2021).…”

Estado socioeconómico ambiental de parcelas agrarias en la Amazonía de Perú

“…Cada vez más se motiva el papel de la retención de carbono orgánico del suelo (COS) como medida provechosa para la humanidad, ya sea por el cambio climático o la inseguridad alimentaria (Moinet et al, 2023). El conocimiento del carbono del suelo aún no está bastantemente avanzado para los marcos contables y convenidos planteados en los rumbos regulatorios o de límites máximos y comercio (Gelardi et al, 2023). En los suelos de los usos agrarios de Churuzapa existen cinco por ciento de Carbono orgánico (CO) en promedio.…”