Do you ever wonder how Earth regulates all the carbon in our atmosphere? Well, one ecological process that drives this is soil carbon sequestration! Soil carbon sequestration is an essential ecosystem service that can be impacted (for better or worse) by human activities.
Given the substantial amount of carbon found in soil and its significant impact on life on Earth, this process must be preserved. A key component of soil that enables this is its organic matter as it helps maintain the soil’s physical, chemical, and biological properties.
Soil organic matter, or SOM, improves overall soil structure and erosion, water quality in groundwater and surface waters, and food security. Agricultural activities have greatly impacted the effectiveness of soil carbon storage, resulting in severe carbon loss from soil worldwide.
Over the last few decades, global temperatures have been rising, and many scientists believe this increase is directly correlated with the amount of carbon accumulating in our atmosphere. In fact, over the past 150 years, the concentration of carbon in our atmosphere has increased by 30%. This can in part be attributed to usual soil management practices, which degrade the quality of soil and contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG).
In this article, we’re going to explain what soil carbon sequestration is; why this process is so important; its benefits; and how we can move towards a sustainable future. Keep on reading!
What is Soil Carbon Sequestration?
Soil sequestration is a process in which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere and stored in the soil carbon pool. During photosynthesis, plants break down CO2 and water from the atmosphere into oxygen, sugars, carbohydrates, and other carbon-rich compounds.
About 40% of this carbon-rich compounds travels to the roots and are leaked into the soil, which feed fungi and other soil organisms. As these beneficial organisms grow, they provide the plant with nutrients that plants may not be otherwise able to access, synthesizing up soil organic matter.
Since the Industrial Revolution, we have seen a decrease in the number of plant roots and residues returned to the soil, an increase in soil erosion, and an increase in decomposition from soil tillage and other conventional agricultural practices.
This conversion from natural ecosystem to agriculture use has led to the depletion of soil organic carbon levels worldwide. Continued increases in atmospheric CO2 can pose a variety of threats for soil carbon inputs and biodiversity.
Source: CalRecycle
Why Should I Care?
We face a worldwide crisis where soil biodiversity is decreasing and temperatures are increasing. As more research and data comes out, we learn that current conventional farming practices are being proven to actually harm soil health by preventing the formation of this carbon-rich healthy soil. Some of these harmful practices include:
- The overuse of NPK fertilizer: This practice has disrupted the soil production of nitrogen, causing soils to stop producing the carbon compounds they need and deteriorating the state of the soil;
- Plowing, Tilling and Excessive Digging: Slices up soil aggregates and breaks up essential fungal networks by exposing the soil to the air, releasing carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide;
- Leaving Soil Bare: Deprives the soil biome of the benefits it gains which growing plants provide, disrupting vital relationship within the soil;
- Using fertilizers with high concentrations of chloride and salt index.
These practices, amongst others, can result in poor, infertile, and low carbon soil, resulting in the inability to manage water and grow plants. Luckily, sustainable agriculture has the ability to change this.
How Can We Fix This?
In order to preserve soil biodiversity, the key to regenerative farming, we must foster good soil health. Sustainable agricultural practices do just this by avoiding synthetic units, adding organic material back into the soil, and minimizing soil disturbance.
If we increase the soil carbon stock by just 0.4% annually, we can halt the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere, a major contributor to climate change. But how? Carbon storage! By increasing carbon sinks, we pose an alternative to emission reductions.
The use of carbon storage in soil represents 25% of potential natural climate solutions, 40% of which is protection of existing soil carbon. According to the Ecological Landscape Alliance, starting with a baseline of 1-2%, soil carbon can increase over the next 10 years to 5-8%. Globally, this could sequester half of human GHG emissions.
Benefits of Soil Carbon Sequestration
Some of the benefits of soil carbon sequestration include, but are not limited to:
- Improved Soil Health: this process helps restore previously degraded soils, improving overall agricultural productivity
- Increased Climate Resilience: healthier soils which means more resilient farms against droughts and heavy rainfall
- Reduced Fertilizer Use: less fertilizer equals less money and less adverse environmental impacts
By practicing soil carbon sequestration, we are not only increasing the longevity of this planet, but also benefiting overall population health.
Moving Towards a Sustainable Future
Sustainable methods like soil carbon sequestration play an important role in reducing and reversing GHG emissions, especially when applied to agricultural practices. However, despite growing interest surrounding soil carbon sequestration, the deployment of these practices remains limited.
As implementation of these methods have not been officially recognized by the political realm. It is up to us as individuals to begin fostering this change. Help us in preserving soil biodiversity, not just for coffee, but for all food systems worldwide! And if that’s not good enough of a reason to start caring, then the decreasing lifespan of the planet definitely should be.
Make sure to sign and share our petition to make agriculture chloride-free by 2040.
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