Soil carbon: science, management and policy for multiple benefits

Abstract This book contains 31 chapters, grouped into 7 parts, which provides a link between the complexity of the scientific knowledge on soil carbon, and how this knowledge can be applied for multiple benefits, and the complexity of the policy and practice arenas where soil and land management impact many sectors: environment, farming, energy, water, economic development and urban planning. Part 1 provides the introduction, overview and integration, and discusses soil carbon as a natural resource, soil organic matter and the benefits of soil carbon. Part 2 analyses soil carbon in the Earth's life support system through soil formation; soil carbon dynamics and nutrient cycling; and soil hydrology and reactive transport of carbon and nitrogen in a multi-scale landscape. Part 3, on the other hand, examines the multiple benefits of soil carbon in terms of: climate change mitigation; soil carbon and agricultural productivity (based on observations in Sub-Saharan Africa); soil as a support of biodiversity and functions; water supply and quality; wind erosion of agricultural soils and the carbon cycle; historical and sociocultural aspects of soil organic matter and soil organic carbon benefits; and the economic value of soil carbon. In part 4, quantification and reporting of soil carbon are discussed. Part 5 describes the influence of human activity on soil carbon as evidence through soil carbon loss, global land degradation, climate change, and the impact of land use change and carbon sequestration in Central-southern South American biomes. Part 6 examines the management of soil carbon for multiple benefits and discusses the basic principles of soil carbon management for multiple ecosystem benefits in Latin America (Brazil and Argentina), North America, Europe, Africa, China, and India. Lastly, the governance of soil carbon, policy frameworks, national implementation in China and the role of carbon markets to avoid land degradation and enhance soil carbon storage, are all discussed in part 7.