Carbon sequestration in the soil: what agriculture can do
It's there, under our feet. In our daily lives, we hardly look at it, and yet it is nothing less than the largest stock of carbon in the earth's ecosystems. It's not the forests or the atmosphere that have the most carbon, but the soil. Around 2,400 billion tonnes of carbon can be found in the first two metres below ground, three times more than is found in the atmosphere.
In this article published in The Conversation, Rémi Cardinael, agronomy researcher (UPR Aïda / CIRAD), Armwell Shumba, agronomy researcher (University of Zimbabwe) & Vira Leng, doctoral student (Université de Montpellier) assess the agricultural practices used in Zimbabwe and Cambodia to increase soil carbon stocks.
Extract from the article
At a time of climate disruption and the absolute need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the impressive capacity of soils to store carbon is sobering. While soil alone will of course not be able to drastically reduce the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that are responsible for global warming, it can nevertheless play a substantial role, not only by preserving large stocks of underground carbon, but also by restoring degraded land, particularly through certain agricultural practices that allow more carbon to be trapped underground.
How does carbon enter the soil?What agricultural practices increase soil carbon stocks?What results have been achieved in Zimbabwe and Cambodia?What are the obstacles to developing these practices?
https://theconversation.com/pieger-le-carbone-dans-le-sol-ce-que-peut-lagriculture-216768
Published: 06/11/2023