FAO Publication: Global assessment of soil carbon in grasslands

The Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has published its first global assessment of soil carbon in grasslands. Soils play a hugely important role in global climate change due to the large amount of carbon currently stored in soil organic matter. The study behind the report establishes baseline soil carbon stocks of grassland systems and estimates their potential for carbon sequestration.

Human activities such as livestock grazing, agricultural management practices, and other land-use activities contribute to both the loss and increase of soil carbon in grasslands.  The report explores practices that can enhance soil health and fertility and emphasises the need to balance the benefits of animal-source foods and livestock keeping for nutrition, health, livelihoods, and well-being, with the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to tackle the climate crisis, which also threatens food security.  Click here to download a copy of the report: Global Assessment of Soil Carbon in Grasslands – from current stock estimates to sequestration potential.   The FAO is holding a webinar on 29 March 2023 14:00-15:30 CEST to present the key findings of the analysis and share insights on the state of soil carbon stocks in grassland systems in the world.  For more details and to register click here.

Readers might also like to read the IDF Bulletin: C-sequ life cycle assessment guidelines for calculating carbon sequestration in cattle production systems, which was published in September 2022.  The bulletin is an LCA approach to calculating above and below ground carbon sequestration – taking us a step closer to fulfilling the positive impacts of livestock agriculture for the climate.