Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-5b777bbd6c-w6wnr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-22T02:00:55.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

13 - The role of soils in the Kyoto Protocol

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2010

By
Pete Smith ,
Pete Falloon  and
Werner L. Kutsch
Edited by
Werner L. Kutsch ,
Michael Bahn  and
Andreas Heinemeyer
Werner L. Kutsch
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie, Jena
Michael Bahn
Affiliation:
Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, Austria
Andreas Heinemeyer
Affiliation:
Stockholm Environmental Institute, University of York
Get access

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The world's soils contain approximately 1500 Pg (1 Pg = 1 Gt = 1015 g) of organic carbon (Batjes, 1996), roughly three times the amount of carbon in vegetation and twice the amount in the atmosphere (IPCC, 2001; Denman et al., 2007). The annual fluxes of CO2 from atmosphere to land (global net primary productivity, NPP) and land to atmosphere (respiration and fire) are of the order of 60 Pg C y−1 (IPCC, 2000b). During the 1990s, fossil fuel combustion and cement production emitted 6.4 ± 1.3 Pg C y−1 to the atmosphere, while land-use change emitted 1.6 ± 0.8 Pg C y−1. Atmospheric carbon increased at a rate of 3.2 ± 0.1 Pg C y−1, the oceans absorbed 2.3 ± 0.8 Pg C y−1 and there was an estimated terrestrial sink of 2.6 ± 1.3 Pg C y−1 (Schimel et al., 2001; Denman et al., 2007). The amount of carbon stored in soils globally is therefore large compared to gross and net annual fluxes of carbon to and from the terrestrial biosphere, and the pools of carbon in the atmosphere and vegetation. Because of this, increasing the size of the global soil carbon pool by even a small proportion has the potential to sequester large amounts of carbon, and thus soils have an important role to play in mitigating climate change.

Human intervention, via cultivation and disturbance, has decreased and still is decreasing the soil carbon pools relative to the store typically achieved under native vegetation.

Type
Chapter
Information
Soil Carbon Dynamics
An Integrated Methodology
 , pp. 245 - 256
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Aalde, H., Gonzalez, P., Gytarsky, M.et al. (2006) Generic methodologies applicable to multiple landuse categories. In 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Prepared by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme, ed. Eggleston, H. S., Buendia, L., Miwa, K., Ngara, T. and Tanabe, K.. Hayama, Japan: IGES.Google Scholar
Aune, J. B. and Lal, R. (1997) Agricultural productivity in the tropics and critical limits of properties of Oxisols, Ultisols, and Alfisols. Tropical Agriculture, 74, 96–103.Google Scholar
Batjes, N. H. (1996) Total carbon and nitrogen in the soils of the world. European Journal of Soil Science, 47, 151–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellamy, P. H., Loveland, P. J., Bradley, R. I., Lark, R. M. and Kirk, G. J. D. (2005) Carbon losses from all soils across England and Wales 1978–2003. Nature, 437, 245–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cannell, M. G. R. (2003) Carbon sequestration and biomass energy offset: theoretical, potential and achievable capacities globally, in Europe and the UK. Biomass and Bioenergy, 24, 97–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denman, K. L., Brasseur, G., Chidthaisong, A.et al. (2007) Couplings between changes in the climate system and biogeochemistry. In Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, ed. Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M.et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
,DETR (1998) UK Climate Change Programme: Department of the Enviroment, Transport and the Regions Consultation Paper. London: Department of the Enviroment, Transport and the Regions, HMSO.Google Scholar
Falloon, P. and Smith, P. (2003) Accounting for changes in soil carbon under the Kyoto Protocol: need for improved long-term data sets to reduce uncertainty in model projections. Soil Use and Management, 19, 265–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falloon, P., Smith, P., Bradley, R. I.et al. (2006) RothC UK: a dynamic modelling system for estimating changes in soil C at 1-km resolution in the UK. Soil Use and Management, 22, 274–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falloon, P., Smith, P., Betts, R.et al. (2008a) Carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas fluxes in cropland soils: climate opportunities and threats. In Climate Change and Crops, ed. Singh, S. N.. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Falloon, P. D., Jones, C. D., Ades, M. and Paul, K. (2008b) Soil moisture controls of future global soil carbon changes: an unconsidered source of uncertainty. Global Biogeochemical Cycles (in revision).
Freibauer, A., Rounsevell, M. D. A., Smith, P. and Verhagen, J. (2004) Carbon sequestration in the agricultural soils of Europe. Geoderma, 122, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garten, C. T. and Wullschleger, S. D. (1999) Soil carbon inventories under a bioenergy crop (Switchgrass): measurement limitations. Journal of Environmental Quality, 28, 1359–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houghton, R. A., Hackler, J. L. and Lawrence, K. T. (1999) The US carbon budget: contributions from land-use change. Science, 285, 574–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,IPCC (2000a) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
,IPCC (2000b) Land Use, Land-use Change, and Forestry. A Special Report of the IPCC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
,IPCC (2001) Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis (Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
,IPCC (2006) 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Prepared by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme, ed. Eggleston, H. S., Buendia, L., Miwa, K., Ngara, T. and Tanabe, K.. Hayama, Japan: IGES.Google Scholar
Janssens, I. A., Freibauer, A., Ciais, P.et al. (2003) Europe's terrestrial biosphere absorbs 7 to 12% of European anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Science, 300, 1538–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkinson, D. S. and Coleman, K. C. (2008) The turnover of organic carbon in subsoils. Part 2. Modelling carbon turnover. European Journal of Soil Science, 59, 400–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lal, R. (1999) Soil management and restoration for C sequestration to mitigate the accelerated greenhouse effect. Progress in Environmental Science, 1, 307–26.Google Scholar
Lal, R. (2004a) Soil carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change. Geoderma, 123, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lal, R. (2004b) Soil carbon sequestration impacts on global climate change and food security. Science, 304, 1623–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Li, C. S., Frolking, S. and Butterbach-Bahl, K. (2005) Carbon sequestration in arable soils is likely to increase nitrous oxide emissions, offsetting reductions in climate radiative forcing. Climatic Change, 72, 321–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKenzie, A. F., Fan, M. X. and Cadrin, F. (1998) Nitrous oxide emission in three years as affected by tillage, corn–soybean–alfalfa rotations, and nitrogen fertilization. Journal of Environmental Quality, 27, 698–703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Metting, F. B., Smith, J. L. and Amthor, J. S. (1999) Science needs and new technology for soil carbon sequestration. In Carbon Sequestration in Soils: Science, Monitoring and Beyond, ed. Rosenberg, N. J., Izaurralde, R. C. and Malone, E. L.. Columbus, OH: Battelle Press, pp. 1–34.Google Scholar
Paustian, K., Cole, C. V., Sauerbeck, D. and Sampson, N. (1998) CO2 mitigation by agriculture: an overview. Climatic Change, 40, 135–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, G. P. (2004) Abatement of nitrous oxide, methane and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases: the need for a systems approach. In The Global Carbon Cycle. Integrating Humans, Climate, and the Natural World. Scope 62, ed. Field, C. B. and Raupach, M. R.. Washington, DC: Island Press, pp. 493–506.Google Scholar
Robertson, G. P., Paul, E. A. and Harwood, R. R. (2000) Greenhouse gases in intensive agriculture: contributions of individual gases to the radiative forcing of the atmosphere. Science, 289, 1922–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schimel, D. S., House, J. I., Hibbard, K. A.et al. (2001) Recent patterns and mechanisms of carbon exchange by terrestrial ecosystems. Nature, 414, 169–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Six, J., Ogle, S. M., Breidt, F. J.et al. (2004) The potential to mitigate global warming with no-tillage management is only realized when practised in the long term. Global Change Biology, 10, 155–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, P. (2004a) Engineered biological sinks on land. In The Global Carbon Cycle. Integrating Humans, Climate, and the Natural World, Scope 62, ed. Field, C. B. and Raupach, M. R.. Washington, DC: Island Press, pp. 479–91.Google Scholar
Smith, P. (2004b) Soils as carbon sinks: the global context. Soil Use and Management, 20, 212–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, P. (2004c) Monitoring and verification of soil carbon changes under Article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol. Soil Use and Management, 20, 264–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, P. and Powlson, D. S. (2003) Sustainability of soil management practices: a global perspective. In Soil Biological Fertility: A Key to Sustainable Land Use in Agriculture, ed. Abbott, L. K. and D. V. Murphy. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 241–54.Google Scholar
Smith, P., Smith, J. U., Powlson, D. S.et al. (1997) A comparison of the performance of nine soil organic matter models using seven long-term experimental datasets. Geoderma, 81, 153–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, P., Powlson, D. S., Smith, J. U., Falloon, P. and Coleman, K. (2000) Meeting Europe's climate change commitments: quantitative estimates of the potential for carbon mitigation by agriculture. Global Change Biology, 6, 525–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, P., Goulding, K. W., Smith, K. A.et al. (2001) Enhancing the carbon sink in European agricultural soils: including trace gas fluxes in estimates of carbon mitigation potential. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, 60, 237–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, P., Amézquita, M. C., Buendia, L.et al. (2004) Greenhouse gas emissions from European croplands. Concerted Action CarboEurope-GHG.
Smith, P., Smith, J. U., Flynn, H.et al. (2007) ECOSSE: Estimating Carbon in Organic Soils: Sequestration and Emissions. Final Report. SEERAD Report.
Vleeshouwers, L. M. and Verhagen, A. (2002) Carbon emission and sequestration by agricultural land use: a model study for Europe. Global Change Biology, 8, 519–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×