What’s Soil Got to Do with Climate Change?

Abstract

Soils are the foundation of life on land and represent one of the largest global carbon (C) reservoirs. Because of the vast amount of C that they store and the continuous fluxes of C with the atmosphere, soil can either be part of the solution or problem with respect to climate change. Using a bank account analogy, the size and significance of the soil organic C (SOC) pool is best understood as the balance between inputs (deposits) from net primary productivity and outputs (withdrawals) from SOC through decay and/or physical transport. Reversing the current problematic trend of increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere must be met with reduced fossil fuel emissions. At the same time, we argue that “climate-smart” land management can promote both terrestrial sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and contribute to improving soil health and benefits. In this review, we highlight environments that are particularly vulnerable to SOC destabilization via land use and climatic factors and outline existing and emerging strategies that use soils to address anthropogenic climate change.