Soil’s contribution to climate change, through the oxidation of soil carbon, is important, and soils—and thus agriculture—can play a major role in mitigating climate change.
“Through multiple agricultural practices, we could help store vast amounts of atmospheric carbon in the soil, while at the same time regenerating soil fertility, plant health and whole ecosystems. This is a no-regret option that offers multiple benefits and deserves high-level visibility,” says a recent United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Foresight Brief titled Putting carbon back where it belongs – the potential of carbon sequestration in the soil.
Industrial farming systems succeed in producing large volumes of food for the global market. However, they cause significant soil erosion, biodiversity (including pollinator) losses and pollution of freshwater bodies. They promote a high dependency on the agro-industry and its products and require huge amounts of freshwater and fertilizer. Agriculture contributes about 23 per cent of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, with the livestock sector representing 14.5 per cent of such emissions.
The fragility of soils, the thin layer of the earth which is the foundation of nearly everything growing and almost all that we eat, puts the “sustainability” of industrialized agriculture into question. One major problem is that we are losing soil due to poor land management practices.
“Overall, the soil is being lost from agricultural areas 10 to 40 times faster than the rate of soil formation, imperilling humanity’s food security,” says UNEP soil and landscape expert Abdelkader Bensada. “A quarter of the Earth’s surface has already become degraded.”
Fertile topsoil equivalent to a land area almost the size of Greece or Malawi is being lost every year, says the UNEP Foresight Brief.
