The opportunity
By increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, agriculture has the potential to contribute to climate change mitigation while building more resilient agrifood systems. Many countries have already included soil carbon sequestration as part of the climate agenda. RECSOIL provides powerful tools to support partners in strengthening economic, technical and social foundations necessary to scaling up sustainable soil management (SSM).
Technical
- provision of uniform standards for measuring, monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of cSOC changes;
- collection of local soil, land use and management data for informed decision making; and
- capacity building for soil laboratory analysis, including data quality and harmonization.
Economic
- promotion of medium to long-term investment; and
- access to climate finance for farmers to reduce risk in the transition to more sustainable food production systems.
Social
- fostering awareness of the role of soil carbon;
- building robust support systems for farmers in the transition to sustainable soil management (SSM)
Building these strong economic, technical and social frameworks requires collaboration across sectors and disciplines, as well as sustained investment in research, development and implementation (RECSOIL facilitates this by collaborating with the private and public sectors, soil science institutions, extension services and farmers to implement SSM under various conditions across the globe).