Land use change and soil organic carbon dynamics

• Published in: Nutrient cycling in agroecosystems Vol. 81; no. 2; pp. 169 - 178
• Main Author: Smith, Pete
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2008; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Agricultural practices; agricultural subsidies; Agriculture; Best management practices; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Carbon dioxide; carbon sequestration; Climate change; crop yield; Cultivation; Developed countries; Developing countries; Economics; Fair trade; Food security; gas emissions; Global warming; good agricultural practices; Land use; land use change; LDCs; Life Sciences; Loans; Organic carbon; Policies; Poverty; Profitability; Research Article; Soil dynamics; Soil erosion; Soil management; soil organic carbon; Soils; Sustainable development; tillage; trade policy; Tropical environments; tropics; Climate mitigation; SOC; Land use change; Barriers; Sequestration; Soil organic carbon; Sustainable development

Historically, soils have lost 40–90 Pg carbon (C) globally through cultivation and disturbance with current rates of C loss due to land use change of about 1.6 ± 0.8 Pg C y −1 , mainly in the tropics. Since soils contain more than twice the C found in the atmosphere, loss of C from soils can have a...