Soil organic carbon stock as an indicator for monitoring land and soil degradation in relation to United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in September 2015 aim to end hunger and poverty, to protect the Planet, and to ensure peace and prosperity for all. The soil organic carbon (SOC) stock is a major planetary resource supporting many critically important ecosystem services (ESs) and underpins realization of some of the SDGs at the national level. Thus, decrease in the SOC stock is among the significant universal indicators for land and soil degradation and compromises efforts to achieve the SDGs especially those with reference to food, health, water, climate, and land management. However, there is currently no well‐established relationship (i.e., quantitative evidence) between the SOC stock and the level of ESs attributable to it. Further, basic soil data and monitoring systems including those of SOC stock and its changes are not available for many regions and nations. This uncertainty affects the suitability of using the SOC stock as absolute indicator to monitor changes in land and soil degradation and, particularly, in relation to the SDG monitoring framework. Thus, although the SOC stock is arguably an important indicator for land and soil degradation among others, more research and data on a national level are needed to establish the relationship between the SOC stock and the targets to monitor progress towards achieving the SDGs with reference to food, health, water, climate, and land management. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review on the suitability of the SOC stock as an indicator for monitoring land and soil degradation with regard to the SDG framework.

Can reduced tillage sustain sugarcane yield and soil carbon if straw is removed?

“…Losses of SOC stocks play an important role for monitoring land and soil degradation [29]. Monitoring SOC stocks is critical to underpin strategies of management for sustaining key soil functions [30], so that the integrated use of RT coupled with straw removal should be further investigated as a management target to potentially offset SOC losses [24].…”

Technologically achievable soil organic carbon sequestration in world croplands and grasslands

“…Despite the variability of measured responses to improved management, conservation practices and climate change reported in the literature (Alexander, Paustian, Smith, & Moran, ; Bruce et al, ; FAO, ; IPCC, ; Lorenz & Lal, ; Minasny et al, ), in most cases, measured C sequestration rates are less than 0.5 to 1 Mg C ha −1 yr −1 when long‐term observational data (>20 yr) are considered. For the United States, for example, Chambers, Lal, and Paustian () reported annual rates of 0.3–0.5 Mg C ha −1 for cropland and 0.04–0.21 Mg C ha −1 for grazing land, while long‐term studies covering the globe as reviewed by Minasny et al (2017) point at an average annual rate of 0.2–0.6 Mg C ha −1 .…”

“…The resulting Paris Agreement aims to limit global warming to well below 2°C, ideally below 1.5°C. To achieve this ambitious goal, reductions in emissions need to be accompanied by adaptation/mitigation activities (Banwart et al, ; Lorenz & Lal, ; Eleanor Milne et al, ). Under the Paris Agreement, reductions in land‐based emissions can be included in a countries' Nationally Determined Contribution.…”

“…Overall, croplands and grasslands are considered to have the greatest potential for improving SOC stocks, in particular, in those areas where soils have been historically degraded and SOC stocks are below their natural levels. Alternatively, for stable or undisturbed lands management efforts should be focused on at least preserving present SOC stocks (FAO & ITPS, ; Lorenz & Lal, ; UNCCD, ).…”

Recent changes in soil properties and carbon stocks in fen peatlands adjacent to open‐pit lignite mines

“…Carbon (C) stocks in terrestrial ecosystems have received considerable international attention due to ongoing concerns of climate change (e.g., Bojko & Kabala, ; Drewnik, Musielok, Stolarczyk, Mitka, & Gus, ; Lorenz, Lal, & Ehlers, ; Voicu et al, ). Peatlands and organic soils are of particular interest (e.g., Maljanen et al, ; Renou‐Wilson, Barry, Mueller, & Wilson, ; Xing et al, ) as in their natural state, these soils are important terrestrial global C sinks (Armstrong et al, ; Leifeld & Menichetti, ), storing 20–30% (~600 Pg) of total global soil organic carbon (SOC) (Scharlemann, Tanner, Hiederer, & Kapos, ).…”