The GSOCseq map will serve as a steppingstone to provide a data driven knowledge base to coordinate action and foster international co-operation to mitigate climate change and combat food insecurity.

The GSOCseq initiative will help countries to:

• support the fulfilment of bilateral environmental agreements, such as the Paris Agreement;
• achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically the Goals on zero hunger (SDG 2), climate action (SDG 13), and life on land (SDG 15);
• set carbon sequestration targets to fulfil Nationally Determined Commitments (NDC) as well as regional carbon neutrality commitments such as the European Green Deal;
• achieve national Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) commitments;
• implement and develop the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA).

The GSOCmap is envisioned to support policymakers and researchers by:

• coordinating action and foster international co-operation by providing a data-driven knowledge base;
• identifying and mapping areas with high sequestration potential to leverage Soil Sustainable Management (SSM) (Voluntary Guidelines on Sustainable Soil Management; (VGSSM; pdf)
• providing a framework for countries to exchange knowledge in a harmonized and effective way
• support the provision of incentives to farmers implementing SOC-cantered SSM practices under GSP’s RECSOIL facility (Leaflet; pdf)

The map in detail:

The GSOCseq map following the example of the Global Soil Organic Carbon map (GSOCmap) and the Global Soil Salinity map (GSSmap) will by generated through a bottom-up country-led approach. Member countries will be invited to generate national SOC sequestration potential maps by simulating SOC stocks over a 20-year period in agricultural lands under four different scenarios. The four scenarios will be comprised of a Business as Usual (BAU) scenario and three scenarios varying in the degree of adoption (Low, Middle and High) of Sustainable Soil Management SSM.

More details regarding the technical specifications and country guidelines provided by the GSP can be found in the Technical specifications and country guidelines for Global Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration Potential Map (GSOCseq) (Link: pdf).

The participants will be technically supported by the GSOCseq Capacity Development program, which will provide regional online trainings and guiding material.

The GSOCseq Trainings:

As part of the capacity building program, the GSP has is providing regional online trainings with an accompanying training datasets and scripts. The first GSOCseq training was held for Latin America in the last week of November and was attended by more than 80 participants.

The online trainings are divided into two Modules:

• Module I: Hands-on practice with a training dataset;
• Module II: Participatory session aimed at implementing the proposed methodology with the participants’ national datasets as well as integrating local knowledge and nationally adapted methodologies

Each Module consists of a 5 day 3 hour long training. Module I will be completed by the end of 2020 and Module II sessions will start in January 2021.

Continuing with Asia next week, other regional online trainings covering Module I will be held during November and December. The first version of the GSOCseq will be launched at the end of the first quarter of 2021.

Related links

Technical specifications and country guidelines for Global Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration Potential Map (GSOCseq)

Global Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration Potential Map (GSOCseq) Technical Manual (SOON AVAILABLE)

Soil information and data | Soil Organic Carbon | GSOCmap | RECSOIL | INSII | Latin America and the Caribbean

Regional Training (Asia) – Module I - 23-27 November 2020

Module I. Modelling Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration Potential (5 Days, 3 hours per day)

Training Material (Scripts, Default Input Data, Documentation)

Please use the following link to access the GSOCseq Module I training Material:

• Training Material

AGENDA

Day 1 - Introduction: The GSOCseq Initiative (importance, the process, benefits, timeline), General framework (BAU, SSM1-SSM2-SSM3, Meta-Analysis), Product specifications, discussion and feedback on national capacities;

Day 2 - Introduction to sequestration modelling (RothC Basics), Input data requirements; uncertainties, software and tools (R, QGIS and GEE to be used during the training);

Day 3 - Introduction to R and R scripts (scripts 0 to 5);

Day 4 - Scripts 6-9;

Day 5 - Review and interpretation of the results, QA and Overview of Module II.

Details of the event | Photogallery

Module II. National GSOCseq Mapping (5 Days, 3 hours per day) (Dates: TBD)

AGENDA

Day 1 - National Input Data;

Day 2 - Running the scripts 0 to 7;

Day 3 - Running the scripts 8 to 9;

Day 4 - Running the script 10;

Day 5 - Writing rasters, wrap-up, and submission procedure.