Conservation Agriculture: climate change mitigation and adaptation benefits

Evaluation of Agricultural Sustainability on a Mixed Vineyard and Olive-Grove Farm in Southern Spain through the INSPIA Model

“…According to the literature, covering the soil also reduces soil erosion [29,35,44,60]. In this context, there is a strong relationship between 'soil cover rate' (indicator No.…”

“…Perennial cropped lands, like vineyards and olive orchards, are characterized for their CO 2 sequestration capacity from the atmosphere, to be kept in the vegetation structures [66]. It is acknowledged, that soil management improvements, such as the reduction in soil tillage for annual crops and establishment of groundcovers in between the tree lines in permanent crops, enhance carbon soil sequestration [60,67,68]. However, these statements conflict with the findings of some other authors who did not find significant differences in organic carbon sequestration in deeper layers of the Mediterranean area for rainfed land, according to different soil management [69].…”

Sustainability Assessment of Annual and Permanent Crops: The Inspia Model

“…Indeed, as climate change is occurring more rapidly than initially predicted [82], it is essential to track environmental indicators that monitor the dynamics of changes and trends, and to assess the reduction of emissions achievable through certain soil management practices. In fact, soil management in agriculture could be one of the best instruments to mitigate and adapt to climate change [68,83]. Certainly, farming systems, such as CA, mitigate climate change thanks to the soil organic carbon increase due to the reduction of carbon oxidation processes by reducing the intensity of tillage, and to the increase of organic matter [84][85][86].…”

“…Certainly, farming systems, such as CA, mitigate climate change thanks to the soil organic carbon increase due to the reduction of carbon oxidation processes by reducing the intensity of tillage, and to the increase of organic matter [84][85][86]. Conservation agriculture also favors the adaptation of agricultural ecosystems to the negative effects of climate change by increasing crop resilience [68,87].…”

“…The principles of CA are: (i) minimum soil disturbance; (ii) permanent soil cover; and (iii) crop rotations [62,[65][66][67]. The implementation of the CA principles plays a major role in the mitigation and adaptation towards climate change, since it implies a reduction of greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions by fixing CO 2 from the atmosphere as soil organic carbon [68]. Moreover, CA systems deliver ecosystem services, as a result of improved conditions in the soil volume used by plant roots, and by enhanced functional agrobiodiversity [65,69] Habitat enhancement and environmental protection, addressed in BMP5, and from BMP11 to BMP15.…”