Soil Carbon Storage and Climate Change with Organic Amendments in High-Altitude Ecosystems

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity and our planet, with far-reaching consequences for every nation and continent. Sustainable Development Goal 13 underscores the urgent need for coordinated global action and the use of multidisciplinary strategies to mitigate climate change and its effects. This complex phenomenon presents both positive and negative impacts. On a global scale, climate change poses severe risks to human health and well-being, exacerbating extreme weather events and leading to catastrophic damage and widespread adverse outcomes. Soil organic matter (SOM) plays a critical role in climate change mitigation by serving as a significant carbon sink. The rate of soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration depends on multiple factors, including temperature, rainfall, soil texture and structure, and land management practices. Several sustainable agricultural practices can be implemented to enhance SOC storage. These include the use of sustainable grazing and fertilization management, no-till farming to minimize soil disturbance, cover cropping to improve soil health, efficient water management and irrigation systems, and agroforestry techniques to integrate trees with crops. These strategies not only increase the soil organic carbon pool but also contribute to long-term agricultural resilience and climate change adaptation. Beyond delivering essential ecosystem services, organic matter plays a pivotal role in achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across various scales, both directly and indirectly. A critical manifestation of land degradation, diminishing soil fertility, and biodiversity loss is the worldwide decline in soil organic matter (SOM), driven by unsustainable land practices and exacerbated by global warming. This decline not only threatens progress in SDGs related to food security (SDG 2), human health (SDG 3), climate action (SDG 13), terrestrial ecosystems (SDG 15), and clean water (SDG 6), but also underscores the urgent need to promote circular economy principles through biomass recycling (SDG 12).

We welcome submissions that present foundational research on SOM’s role in addressing pressing environmental challenges. Potential topics include, but not limited to, the following areas:

• Mitigating biodiversity loss;
• Climate change adaptation through carbon sequestration;
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution;
• Soil fertility and organic amendments (e.g., composting, vermicomposting, biochar, biofertilizers) in the context of climate change;
• Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling mediated by soil microbiota and their climate change implications;
• Soil carbon sequestration dynamics in croplands, grasslands, and forest ecosystems;
• Soil carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, and their roles in climate change mitigation/adaptation.

Both original research articles and comprehensive reviews are encouraged.

Dr. Syed Turab Raza
Dr. Hassan Iqbal
Guest Editors

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• climate change
• carbon and nitrogen cycling
• organic amendments
• greenhouse gasses
• soil fertility