Soil Carbon Management: Improving Soil Health and Mitigating Climate Change

Dear Colleagues,

In 2015 the FAO celebrated the "International Year of Soils", to increase the awareness of soils globally as a key ecosystem compartment and major sinks of carbon that form the basis of 95% of the global food production and at the same time is responsible for essential ecosystem services.

Soil health and quality are tightly coupled to high biodiversity in soils, where biotic activity functions are the driving forces of nutrients cycling are crucial for crop growth and development. Intensive agricultural management increases C losses through decreases of physical protection of OM with the consequent threat of microbial functions, thus decreasing long-lasting soil health and quality. Loss of functional diversity in soils is followed by loss of diversity in nutrients cycling, and consequently, crop production and the soils' contribution to further ecosystem services are impacted. Recovery times, at best of several decades, may replenish such losses in soil fertility and health.

Besides their vital role in food production, soil carbon stocks are strongly related to climate change in a highly dynamic feedback loop. On the one hand, globally, climate change is threatening soil carbon stocks, e.g., by permafrost thawing or desertification, leading to enhanced soil carbon losses as CO₂. On the other hand, soils under sustainable management bear incredible potential to function as a sink for carbon, a crucial indicator for an extremely high soil buffering capacity, thus mitigating detrimental changes imposed by climate change, therefore maintaining or even increasing soil health and quality.

However, sustainable management of the soil carbon pool is highly dependent on local factors (e.g., demand for staple food production in the region, climatic conditions, and the soil type). As a result, global upscaling and estimation of soils' potential to function as a carbon sink under the assumption of sustainable management practices are crucial and still highly uncertain.

This Special Issue aims at improving global knowledge on management impacts on soil carbon stocks (positive/negative changes), nutrient cycles, implications for soil health, and mitigation strategies. Providing sustainable alternatives for stable food production while maintaining or even improving carbon stocks for optimum soil health.

Prof. Dr. Michaela A. Dippold
Prof. Dr. Sandra Spielvogel
Prof. Dr. Zang Huadong
Prof. Dr. Mubarak Abdelrahman Abdalla
Prof. Dr. Carolina Merino
Prof. Dr. Mutez Ali Ahmed
Guest Editors

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• soil C stabilization
• soil biota
• microbial functions
• ecosystem services
• sustainable agricultural management practices
• global food security
• climate change