SOIL CARBON CHECK: A TOOL FOR MONITORING AND GUIDING SOIL CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN FARMER FIELDS

Abstract

In 2015, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were approved, including SDG13, which addresses actions to increase carbon capture (CO2-C storage) for climate change mitigation. However, no analytical procedures have been defined for quantifying soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. This paper presents a rapid tool for guiding farmers and for monitoring SOC sequestration in farmer fields. The tool consists of multiconstituent soil analyses through near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and an SOC mineralization model. The tool provides forecasts of SOC sequestration over time. Soil analyses by NIRS have been calibrated and validated for farmer fields in European countries, China, New Zealand, and Vietnam. Results indicate a high accuracy of determination for SOC (R2 ≥ 0.93), and for inorganic C, soil texture, and soil bulk density. Permanganate oxidizable soil C is used as proxy for active SOC, to detect early management-induced changes in SOC contents, and is also quantified by NIRS (R2 = 0.92). A pedotransfer function is used to convert the results of the soil analyses to SOC sequestration in kg·ha−1 C as well as CO2. In conclusion, the tool allows fast, quantitative, and action-driven monitoring of SOC sequestration in farmer fields, and thereby is an essential tool for monitoring progress of SDG13.