SEQUESTERING ORGANIC CARBON IN SOILS THROUGH LAND USE CHANGE AND AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES: A REVIEW

Highlights

● Either increasing C input to or reducing C release from soils can enhance soil C sequestration.

● Afforestation and reforestation have great potential in improving soil C sequestration.

● Long-term observations about the impacts of biochar on soil C sequestration are necessary.

Abstract

Climate change vigorously threats human livelihoods, places and biodiversity. To lock atmospheric CO₂ up through biological, chemical and physical processes is one of the pathways to mitigate climate change. Agricultural soils have a significant carbon sink capacity. Soil carbon sequestration (SCS) can be accelerated through appropriate changes in land use and agricultural practices. There have been various meta-analyses performed by combining data sets to interpret the influences of some methods on SCS rates or stocks. The objectives of this study were: (1) to update SCS capacity with different land-based techniques based on the latest publications, and (2) to discuss complexity to assess the impacts of the techniques on soil carbon accumulation. This review shows that afforestation and reforestation are slow processes but have great potential for improving SCS. Among agricultural practices, adding organic matter is an efficient way to sequester carbon in soils. Any practice that helps plant increase C fixation can increase soil carbon stock by increasing residues, dead root material and root exudates. Among the improved livestock grazing management practices, reseeding grasses seems to have the highest SCS rate.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

agroecosystems / climate change / negative emissions technology / net zero

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBS/E/C/000I0320 and BBS/E/C/000I0330).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Lianhai Wu declares that he has no conflicts of interest or financial conflicts to disclose. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by the author.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

The Author(s) 2022. Published by Higher Education Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)