Countries’ commitments to soil organic carbon in Nationally Determined Contributions

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cg.contributor.affiliationCGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Securityen
cg.contributor.affiliationFederal Office for Agriculture and Food, Germanyen
cg.contributor.affiliationCeresen
cg.contributor.affiliationUniversity of Vermonten
cg.contributor.affiliationThünen Instituteen
cg.contributor.affiliationEmpresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuáriaen
cg.contributor.affiliationAgroParisTechen
cg.contributor.crpClimate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
cg.coverage.regionAfrica
cg.coverage.regionAsia
cg.coverage.regionEastern Africa
cg.coverage.regionLatin America
cg.coverage.regionSouthern Asia
cg.coverage.regionSouth-eastern Asia
cg.coverage.regionWestern Africa
cg.creator.identifierLiesl Wiese: 0000-0001-5835-4088
cg.creator.identifierEva Wollenberg: 0000-0002-4335-2562
cg.creator.identifierSusanna Esther Hönle: 0000-0001-5731-7170
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2021.1969883en
cg.identifier.projectCCAFS: PII-FP3_LEDPriorities
cg.identifier.projectCCAFS: PII-FP3_SAMPLES
cg.isijournalISI Journalen
cg.issn1469-3062en
cg.issue8en
cg.journalClimate Policyen
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.subject.ccafsLOW EMISSIONS DEVELOPMENTen
cg.volume21en
dc.contributor.authorWiese-Rozanova, Liesl D.en
dc.contributor.authorWollenberg, Eva Karolineen
dc.contributor.authorAlcántara Shivapatham, Viridianaen
dc.contributor.authorRichards, Meryl Ben
dc.contributor.authorShelton, Sadie Wen
dc.contributor.authorHönle, Susanna Een
dc.contributor.authorHeidecke, Claudiaen
dc.contributor.authorMadari, Beáta Een
dc.contributor.authorChenu, Claireen
dc.date.accessioned2021-09-13T12:40:44Zen
dc.date.available2021-09-13T12:40:44Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/114952
dc.titleCountries’ commitments to soil organic carbon in Nationally Determined Contributionsen
dcterms.abstractSoil carbon is the major active pool of terrestrial carbon, and as such, soil organic carbon (SOC) targets, policies and measures will be pivotal to achieving global climate targets. SOC sequestration may reduce the net annual greenhouse gas emissions from Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use by between 3% and 71%, while simultaneously supporting various ecosystem services. Accurate SOC accounting and monitoring, however, is constrained by various technical challenges related to indicators, rates of SOC change, measuring the impact of management practices on SOC, and the long-term persistence of sequestered SOC. We assessed countries’ pledges to the Paris Agreement for SOC in agriculture to better understand the level, transparency, and specificity of commitments. Reviewing 184 countries’ initial Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), we considered whether SOC was included, what was pledged, the level of ambition promised and the specificity of mitigation targets. Twenty-eight countries referred to SOC in their NDCs, citing quantified or unquantified mitigation targets, national policies or programs, and actions and measures to be implemented in agricultural lands (14), peatlands (6) or wetlands (14). Countries’ reasons for not including SOC in NDCs included the need to prioritize goals of sustainable development and food security above climate mitigation, a lack of incentives for farmers to improve management practices, and the difficulty of accurately monitoring changes in SOC. Including SOC targets in NDCs can improve NDCs’ comprehensiveness and transparency to track and compare policy progress across NDCs; it can also leverage SOC-related climate finance, technical support, and capacity building. Key policy insights: 1) Many NDCs specify practices known to have the potential to achieve SOC sequestration or protection without explicitly mentioning SOC. The SOC-related mitigation potential of these practices can be quantified in future NDCs. 2) NDCs are not presently a good indicator of countries’ interest or commitment to SOC action at national level. To improve this, countries with existing SOC policies, programs, and actions can specify their SOC-related commitments in future NDCs. 3) Increased collaboration between countries with experience managing SOC and countries needing support to develop SOC-related targets, policies, measures and incentives for land users and farmers would facilitate the provision of such needed support. 4) To increase country commitments and attention to managing SOC, there is a need for improved SOC measurement and monitoring, for better evidence on the impacts of management practices on SOC, and for incentives for farmers to change practices and overcome barriers.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.available2021-08-27
dcterms.bibliographicCitationWiese L, Wollenberg E, Alćantara-Shivapatham V, Richards M, Shelton S, Hönle SE, Heidecke C, Madari BM, Chenu C. 2021. Countries’ commitments to soil organic carbon in Nationally Determined Contributions. Climate Policy 21(8):1005-1019.en
dcterms.extentp. 1005-1019en
dcterms.issued2021-09-14
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
dcterms.publisherInforma UK Limiteden
dcterms.subjectagricultureen
dcterms.subjectfood securityen
dcterms.subjectclimate changeen
dcterms.subjectpolicyen
dcterms.subjectsoilen
dcterms.subjectsoil organic carbonen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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