Recarbonization of Global Agricultural Soil (RECSOIL)
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The Recarbonization of Global Agricultural Soils (RECSOIL) initiative, launched in 2019, seeks to upscale the adoption of sustainable soil management (SSM) practices, with a focus on sequestering and maintaining soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks for the improvement of soil health. Its efforts ultimately serve to bolster farmer livelihoods and foster climate change adaptation and mitigation.
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Based on a protocol for measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification of soil organic carbon in agricultural landscapes (GSOC-MRV Protocol) and supplemented by a robust set of tools to holistically assess soil health, RECSOIL works with relevant stakeholders to build practical support pathways which empower farmers to adopt SSM for the long-term.
Why does soil carbon matter?
- Soil holds nearly 700 billion tonnes of carbon – the largest terrestrial carbon pool
- Agricultural land has lost 50-70 percent of its carbon stores to the atmosphere over time
- Restoring soil carbon not only supports climate resilience, but also improves productivity and biodiversity
Goals
The RECSOIL initiative seeks to tackle remaining barriers to up-scaling soil carbon sequestration by implementing sustainable soil management (SSM) practices across the globe.
The goal is to:
- prevent future soil organic carbon losses and increase current carbon stocks;
- improve soil health by increasing soil carbon and other soil health parameters through implementing SSM practices (selected based on soil data);
- improve farmers' livelihoods through improving agricultural yield, opening new market opportunities and building resilience to climate change; and
- bolster soil ecosystem services, including the promotion of biodiversity, pollutant filtration and nutrient cycling.
RECSOIL partners with national and local governments, soil laboratories, farmer organizations, farmers, and other actors across the agricultural sector to foster carbon sequestration through SSM.
Countries with RECSOIL activities
Global overview of RECSOIL pilot projects
Are you interested in collaborating with the RECSOIL initiative in your country? Please fill in this form.
Let's work together to bring carbon back into the soil and build a more resilient food system!
Infographic
Publications
Key document
Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management
2018
The guidelines provide technical recommendations on how SSM can be achieved. The VGSSM are of a voluntary nature and are not legally binding. They elaborate...
Recarbonizing global soils – A technical manual of recommended management practices. Volume 1 - Introduction and methodology
2021
This technical manual is the first attempt to gather, in a standardized format, the existing data on the impacts of the main soil management practices...
Recarbonizing global soils – A technical manual of recommended management practices. Volume 2: Hot spots and bright spots of soil organic carbon
2021
During the last decades, soil organic carbon (SOC) attracted the attention of a much wider array of specialists beyond agriculture and soil science..
Recarbonizing global soils: A technical manual of recommended sustainable soil management. Volume 3 - Cropland, grassland, integrated systems and farming approaches - Practices overview
2021
During the last decades, soil organic carbon (SOC) attracted the attention of a much wider array of specialists beyond agriculture and soil science,...
Recarbonizing global soils – A technical manual of recommended management practices. Volume 4 - Cropland, grassland, integrated systems and farming approaches - Case studies
2021
During the last decades, soil organic carbon (SOC) attracted the attention of a much wider array of specialists beyond agriculture and soil science,...
Recarbonizing global soils – A technical manual of recommended management practices. Volume 5: Forestry, wetlands, urban soils (practices overview)
2021
During the last decades, soil organic carbon (SOC) attracted the attention of a much wider array of specialists beyond agriculture and soil science,...
Recarbonizing global soils - A technical manual of recommended management practices. Volume 6: Forestry, wetlands, urban soils (case studies)
2021
During the last decades, soil organic carbon (SOC) attracted the attention of a much wider array of specialists beyond agriculture and soil science,...