Soils are the second largest carbon pool on the planet and play an important role in climate change mitigation, food security and nutrition of billions of people. Sustainable management practices and conservation of grasslands can increase the capacity of soils to sequester carbon and maintain soil carbon sinks. However, anthropogenic activities such as intensive livestock grazing can lead to the loss of soil carbon stocks in grasslands. 

Considering soil carbon sequestration as a natural removal of carbon emissions from the atmosphere, FAO has recently released its first “Global assessment of soil carbon in grasslands: From current stock estimates to sequestration potential” and organized a webinar to share insights and present the key findings of the study.

“Poor livestock practices can result in soil degradation with negative consequences on environmental health, biodiversity and ecosystems. We need to revisit what we have done so far and learn from the past. That’s why FAO and its member states are moving forward to work towards a sustainable livestock transformation”, said Thanawat Tiensin, Director of the FAO Animal Production and Health Division during the opening session of the FAO webinar “Assessing Soil Carbon in Global Grasslands: The Importance of Sustainable Livestock Practices”. 

Developed by the FAO Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance (LEAP) Partnership in collaboration with the France’s Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRAE), the report provides spatially explicit estimates of the current level of soil carbon stocks in grasslands as well as the potential of these ecosystems to sequester carbon. 

“Almost one year ago, when I was honored with the chairmanship of the COAG Sub-Committee on Livestock, I highlighted the necessity to assess livestock systems from an integral perspective that permits FAO and policy makers to sharply identify strengths and weaknesses of animal production in different contexts and regions,” stressed H.E. Don Carlos Bernardo Cherniak, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Argentina to FAO, IFAD and WFP, and Chairperson of the COAG Sub-Committee on Livestock. “As we know, when it comes to the measurement of carbon sequestration there is still controversy as we don’t have multilaterally agreed parameters. In this sense, this report can contribute to boost the discussion by recognizing the diverse nature of systms that support livestock.added.

Over 300 participants from around the world attended the virtual seminar and actively engaged in discussion with the panel. Other experts and researchers who intervened during the event were Marta Dondini, lead author of the FAO report and Lecturer at the University Aberdeen, United Kingdom; Katia Klumpp and Manuel Martin, researchers at INRAE; Virginia Pravia, Researcher at the Instituto Nacional de Investigatión Agropecuaria of Uruguay; and Ronald Vargas, Secretary of the FAO Global Soil Partnership. The webinar was moderated by Aimable Uwizeye, Livestock Policy Officer and LEAP Secretariat coordinator.

Learn more

• Video recording
• FAO full report
• Lead author’s summary