Suchergebnisse

The focus of a forthcoming Council on Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) report is to summarize and synthesize the most recent research on the potential to mitigate GHG emissions through improvements in agricultural and land management practices. The report is designed to inform policy and decision makers in government and industry, agricultural producers, environmental and other nongovernmental organizations, and the general public. A major objective of the report has been to bring together biophysical and ecological information with economics and policy analysis, to provide a clearer picture of the potential role of agriculture in GHG mitigation strategies. In addition, a major aim has been to address all three major greenhouse gases and to consider the potential tradeoffs and/or synergisms between practices aimed at carbon sequestration and mitigation of N2O and CH4 emissions, in order to understand the net effect of all three gases (CO2, N2O and CH4), which can be expressed as an aggregate global warming potential (GWP) value. It is hoped that this synthesis will inform the debate on GHG mitigation in ongoing national and international efforts to deal with global climate change. This paper presents a brief synopsis of some of the findings of the CAST report.

Acknowledgments The input of PS contributes to Soils-R-GRREAT (NE/P019455/1) and the input of PS and SK contributes to the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme through project CIRCASA (grant agreement no. 774378). PR acknowledges funding from UK Greenhouse Gas Removal Programme (NE/P01982X/2). GB De Deyn acknowledges FoodShot Global for its support. TKA acknowledges the support of "Towards Integrated Nitrogen Management System (INMS) funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), executed through the UK's Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The input of DG was supported by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) strategic science investment fund (SSIF). PMS acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council (Project FT140100610). PM's work on ecosystem services is supported by a National Science Foundation grant #1853759, "Understanding the Use of Ecosystem Services Concepts in Environmental Policy". LGC is funded by National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, Brazil – grants 421668/2018-0 and 305157/2018-3) and by Lisboa2020 FCT/EU (project 028360). BS acknowledges support from the Lancaster Environment Centre Project. ; Peer reviewed ; Postprint

AbstractSoil degradation is a critical and growing global problem. As the world population increases, pressure on soil also increases and the natural capital of soil faces continuing decline. International policy makers have recognized this and a range of initiatives to address it have emerged over recent years. However, a gap remains between what the science tells us about soil and its role in underpinning ecological and human sustainable development, and existing policy instruments for sustainable development. Functioning soil is necessary for ecosystem service delivery, climate change abatement, food and fiber production and fresh water storage. Yet key policy instruments and initiatives for sustainable development have under‐recognized the role of soil in addressing major challenges including food and water security, biodiversity loss, climate change and energy sustainability. Soil science has not been sufficiently translated to policy for sustainable development. Two underlying reasons for this are explored and the new concept of soil security is proposed to bridge the science–policy divide. Soil security is explored as a conceptual framework that could be used as the basis for a soil policy framework with soil carbon as an exemplar indicator.