Launch of the public review of the LEAP guidelines for measuring and modelling soil carbon stocks and stock changes in livestock production systems


23/05/2018

Soil carbon storage is a vital ecosystem service, resulting from interactions of ecological processes. Livestock supply chains can strongly affect these processes leading to carbon loss for example through land-use change or improvement of soil carbon storage, which reduces the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. Measuring soil carbon storage can be challenging because of the lack of consensus on a reference method and data. To build consensus on the measurement of soil carbon, the Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance (LEAP) Partnership launched the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on soil carbon storage for livestock supply chains in March 2017.

The TAG is composed of 37 international experts and has met for two face-to-face meetings in Rome, Italy and at CATIE, Costa Rica, to share knowledge and expertise on measuring and modelling soil carbon and carbon stock change in livestock production systems. The work of the TAG resulted in the comprehensive draft LEAP guidelines for measuring and modelling soil carbon stocks and stock changes in livestock production systems.

These guidelines represent the technical consensus reached during several TAG meetings. They have undergone a technical review by LEAP Steering Committee and peer-reviewers. The guidelines will also serve as a tool for researchers to provide inputs to policymakers for the development of strategies to mitigate climate change through livestock. To achieve this milestone, LEAP has partnered with the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS) of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP), who has substantially contributed to the development and review of these guidelines. After this process, the draft guidelines are officially launched for public review.

The public review will last for three months and be completed by 22 August 2018. The LEAP Partnership is grateful for the TAG co-chairs’ and members’ dedication to complete this challenging work.