This presentation by Cristina Arias-Navarro (INRA) was given on the 26 of June 2019 as part of the SB50 side event – Enhancing NDC Ambition Through Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration. Country representatives and experts discussed the potential of soil organic carbon sequestration as a climate change mitigation option and gaps between countries’ current and potential commitments. More info: https://ccafs.cgiar.org/ccafs-sb50-enhancing-ndc-ambition-through-soil-organic-carbon-sequestration

1. International soil carbon
sequestration research
SBSTA50 Soil Organic Carbon Side Event Bonn, 26th June 2019

2. 2
• 128 countries include the Agriculture,
Forestry and Land Use sector in their
pledges
• By 2030, a gap of 29 billion tons CO2eq
prevents reaching the targeted +1.5℃
maximum global warming threshold
• Limiting warming to 1.5°C will require
the use of “negative emissions
technologies” – methods that remove
CO2 from the atmosphere.
• Options from land sector could come
with considerable impacts on food
security ,on clean water and sanitation,
as well as on life on land.
[Summary for Policymakers, IPCC 2018]
Mitigation options and SDGs
Mitigation options and SDGs

3. 3
Humans have created anthropogenic ecosystems (anthromes) which are subject
to interlinked land based challenges including climate change adaptation, land
degradation and desertification, food insecurity, groundwater depletion, water
pollution, biodiversity loss and declining nature’s contribution to people (NCPs)
Overlap between the desertification, or land degradation, challenges, the food
insecurity (chronic undernourishment) challenge and the climate change
adaptation challenge.
[submitted Nature , Soussana, Arias-Navarro et al.]
Land-based challenges
• Identifying and deploying
mitigation options to
respond to all challenges
simultaneously is a major
issue for humanity.
• Increased SOC has a
large potential since it
could be deployed with
mostly co-benefits.

4. cross-cutting theme between food
security, climate change,
desertification and biodiversity
• 2-3 times more carbon in soil organic
matter than in atmospheric CO2 [IPCC, 2013]
• 1.4 Gt C could be stored annually in
agricultural soils [after IPCC, 2007, 2014]
• Large benefits for food security by
increasing crop yields and yield stability
for soils initially low in SOC [Lal 2006, Frank et al.
2017]
• 10% global crop yield loss by 2050 with
land degradation [ITPS, 2016]
• soil organic matter is known to increase
water filtration, protect water quality
and improving soil carbon can increase
overall resilience of landscapes. [Lehmann &
Kleber 2015, Tscharntke et al. 2005]
• SOC seq is among the cheapest methods
with the greatest potential [UNEP,2017]
Soil carbon sequestration: a major mitigation option

5. METHODS USED BY GRA COUNTRIES FOR ESTIMATING SOC CHANGES FOR THE
“CROPLAND REMAINING CROPLAND” CATEGORY.
[in prep, Arias-Navarro, Smith, Soussana et al.]
Soil carbon: moving from Tier 1 to Tier 2
• Land management practices
• Long-term field trials
• Soil surveys
INTEGRATIVERESEARCH GROUP:
Inventories and Nationally Determined Contributions
(NDC) Support Network.

6. Storing carbon in French soils: what
potential for the 4 per 1000 target and at what cost?
Stockage additionnel absolu (kgC/ha/an) sur 0-30 cm avec le
scénario "Insertion et allongement des cultures intermédiaires"
Coût de la tonne de C stockée (€/tC) et Assiette maximale
technique (AMT) (ha) de la pratique, par région
• The potential for additional carbon storage
in French agricultural and forest soils is
+5.78 Mt C yr-1 in the 0-30 cm horizon
(+8.43 Mt C yr-1 over the entire soil depth)
+1,9 ‰ [all land uses combined]
+3,3 ‰ [agricultural soils]
+5,2 ‰ [arable crops]
• Management practices to stock more C in soils in
France would enable maximum additional storage
equivalent to 41% of French agricultural emissions, or
7% of emissions in France.
• Half of the potential is at a lower cost than the current
shadow price of carbon (55€/tCO2e)
• Most of the potential for additional storage is in
arable crops (86% of total potential)
[Bamiére, Pellerin et al.2019]

7. • Together with these initiatives and with CCAFS-
CGIAR, it has direct outreach to a total of 82
countries accounting for 85% of the world’s total
research on soil C sequestration in agriculture
Countries partners of CIRCASA, 4p1000, GRA, FACCE-JPI and CCAFS
• H2020 CIRCASA has 22 partners including the
research secretariats of 4p1000, GRA and FACCE-JPI
Develop international synergies concerning research and knowledge transfer on
agricultural soil C sequestration at European Union (EU) and global levels.

8. [CIRCASA, 2019. Assessing barriers and solutions to the implementation
of SOC sequestration options]

9. Developed to structure and integrate existing knowledge on soil organic carbon
sequestration in agriculture. This includes the sharing of information, data, and
knowledge openly accessible.
We invite you to discover it by creating your profile
https://www.ocp.circasa-project.eu
CIRCASA online collaborative platform (OCP)
=> An open data repository with geospatial and modelling data

10. Thank you for your attention!
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Visit our website www.circasa-project.eu
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme
under grant agreement No 774378
@ariasnavarroc