Soil, Climate Change and Biodiversity Where do we stand? › environment › archives › soil ›...

Soil, Climate Change and BiodiversityWhere do we stand?

Brussels, 23-24 September 2010

Soil, Climate Change and Biodiversity - Where do we stand?

2

Soil, Climate Change and Biodiversity

–

Where do we stand?

Brussels, 23-24 September 2010


4

Contents

Foreword 5

Executive Summary 6

Thursday 23 September 2010 10

First session: What we know about carbon stocks in Europe and beyond 13

Second session: The role of agriculture in providing ecosystem services 15

Third session: The contribution of soils to mitigation and adaptation 17

Friday 24 September 2010 19

Fourth session:The life we walk on — The huge variety of biodiversity in soil 20

Fifth session:The policy aspects of soil biodiversity protection 22

Panel discussion: Soil, climate change and biodiversity: synergies and opportunities 24

5Report on the Conference

ForewordMore and more, we are becoming aware of the scale of the challenges that biodiversity loss and climate change mean for our society. However, despite the role soil plays in these processes, it is often a neglected element. This is difficult to understand as soil is the second biggest active carbon pool on the planet after the oceans and it is home to more than one quarter of our planet’s species.

Soil is a non renewable resource since its formation takes a very long time. In addition, it is subjected to many pressures as it is the base of most of our activities (e.g. agriculture, transport, housing). Therefore, soil is a crucial part of the ecosystem that deserves the same care at European level as we are giving to water, air, nature etc.

With the aim of placing soil at the heart of the debates on biodiversity loss and climate change, and in the context of the Soil Thematic Strategy, the European Commission hosted in September 2010 the conference ‘Soil, Climate Change and Biodiversity — Where do we stand?’ . Over two days, international scientists and policy makers presented the results from their research activities and discussed options for the future.

We are very pleased to present now the report from this conference summarising the interventions of all the speakers. We hope this report will help to better place the soil in the debates on climate change and biodiversity protection and to highlight the important role research plays in improving our still limited knowledge on soil and soil processes.

Janez Potočnik European Commissioner for the Environment

Connie HedegaardEuropean Commissioner for Climate Action

Máire Geoghegan-QuinnEuropean Commissioner for Research and

Innovation


Executive SummaryThe conference ‘Soil, Climate Change and Biodiversity — Where do we stand?’ was held in Brussels on 23 and 24 September 2010. It was organised by the Environment Directorate-General and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. The main aim of the conference was to highlight the links between soil, climate change and biodiversity.

Approximately 400 people attended: policy-makers, civil servants from national and regional administrations, researchers, lobbyists, officials from EU institutions, etc.

The conference heard speakers from different countries and backgrounds, ensuring wide geographic and thematic coverage.

Key message

� Soil is an important reservoir for carbon and plays a fundamental role in the carbon cycle on Earth. Living biomass and soil absorb some 2.8 billion tonnes of carbon annually in a continuous exchange with the ecosystem. If the carbon absorption function of soil is impaired, even more carbon dioxide would stay in the atmosphere, further exacerbating climate change. For example, increased temperatures in the Arctic and Boreal regions are causing permafrost-affected areas to thaw, resulting in the decomposition of organic matter. This could lead to massive emissions of carbon dioxide, as soils in the northern latitudes store up to half of the Earth’s soil carbon, whilst covering only 15 % of the terrestrial surface.

� But it is not only climate change that can badly affect our soils. The intensification of agriculture also depletes carbon in soil. In fact, carbon retention is 25 to 70 % lower in intensively managed fields compared to pasture in the same areas. European arable land is estimated to be a source of up to 2.5 tonnes of carbon per hectare and year due to soil disturbance. Long-term experiments in Sweden have showed that soil carbon in intensive agricultural soils has declined at a rate of 1 % per year over the past 50 years. With current farming practices and declining carbon levels, farms that are economically sustainable today may not be so within a generation.

� However, there is some good news. In Europe, grassland is estimated to absorb about 0.6-0.9 tonnes of carbon per hectare and year. Most importantly, at global level, agriculture could potentially suck up from the atmosphere almost one billion tonnes of carbon annually if the right practices were implemented. In Europe, the technical potential of agriculture is so high that the current 20 million tonnes of carbon absorbed every year could be multiplied by ten.

� Forests play a key role in climate regulation. At global level, halving deforestation rates by 2050 and then maintaining them at this level until 2100 would prevent the direct release of up to 50 billion tonnes of carbon this century. This is equivalent to 12 % of the emissions reductions needed to keep atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide below 450 parts per million. Experimental data show that the carbon age of European forest soils can be as high as 400-1 000 years. Any loss of that ancient carbon would be extremely difficult to reverse, hence the importance of protecting forests and their soils.

� Peatlands are a special case in the management of the global carbon cycle as peat soils store huge amounts of carbon. They contain about 30 % of the total soil organic carbon in the world, whilst covering only 3 % of the Earth’s land surface. Emissions from peatlands due to land conversion contribute up to 800 million tonnes of carbon a year to the atmosphere. However, natural peatlands are practically carbon neutral in terms of emissions. Whilst farmland on peat soils can be relatively small, it can have a disproportionate contribution to carbon dioxide emissions. For example, only 8 % of farmland is on peatlands in Germany, but is responsible for about 30 % of all emissions from the German farming sector.


7

� It is fundamental to understand that — as one speaker put it — ‘it is easier to leave the marbles in the jar than to tip them out and try to pick them all up again’. In other words, it is better to keep carbon where it is than trying to put it back when it has left the soil, which is a painful and lengthy process.

� Soil is home to more than a quarter of the world’s biodiversity. Soil communities are essential to soil functions, providing the ‘biological toolbox’ which underpins soil-based processes. The diversity of this toolbox provides the foundation for the delivery of functions required today and in the future. However, scientists believe that most soil species have not even been identified. There is also a lack of knowledge and awareness about the links between soil, soil organisms and ecosystem services.

� The threats to our soils (erosion, contamination, overexploitation, urbanisation, etc.) are numerous and their impacts can easily be seen in Europe and all across the planet. This has also consequences not only in terms of climate change, but also biodiversity, as shown by the European Soil Biodiversity Atlas presented at the conference. Soil biodiversity is under pressure in large parts of Europe and there are areas where it is most at risk of decline.

� The Convention on Biological Diversity recognised the importance of soil biodiversity. In 2006 it adopted the International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Soil Biodiversity. Soil plays a crucial role in the fundamental processes of life on Earth, like the water and carbon cycles. Ecosystem management activities (e.g. protecting peatlands, sustainable agricultural practices and soil management) can help achieve the international goals set by the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention to Combat Desertification and the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Overall conclusion � If we are to meet our goals in terms of protecting biodiversity, fighting climate change, and safeguarding our resources, we need to improve our understanding and preservation of soil and soil functions. It is essential to improve our knowledge on soil organisms and to raise awareness of the importance of soil and soil biodiversity.

� Keeping the carbon already contained in the soil intact is more effective than reforestation or any other practice aiming at capturing atmospheric carbon. Therefore, the conservation of carbon-rich soils like peatlands, forest soils and permanent grasslands should become a priority.

� This does not mean ignoring other possibilities. Fertile soils rich in organic matter are our best insurance against food insecurity and climate vulnerability. Therefore we need to further exploit the potential of agricultural practices (e.g. integrating crop residues in the soil, and using conservation agriculture techniques such as reduced tillage) to increase soil organic matter, particularly in arable land, both by reducing carbon loss and by increasing carbon input to the soil.

� Increasing carbon sequestration through, for example, biochar should be regarded with precaution. Soil management practices should aim to ensure that soil has the optimal level of humus content to support all its functions rather than seeking to simply maximise carbon sequestration.

� Food production, mitigating climate change and ecosystem services are closely intertwined and all rely on biodiversity and soil biodiversity. Therefore, we need to take a new approach to agriculture that builds on biodiversity (especially within the soil), soil quality, and organic fertilisers and seeds variety as productive factors to be optimised. The objective should be to design an agricultural landscape that is both rich in diversity and species and more productive.


8

ConferenceSoil, Climate Change and Biodiversity — Where do we stand?

Brussels, Thursday 23 and Friday 24 September 2010Programme

8.00 Registration desk opens9.00 Welcome and Introduction by the Chair

Karl Falkenberg, Director-General, Environment DG, European Commission

Keynote addresses9.15 The links between soil, climate change and biodiversity Janez Potočnik, Environment Commissioner, European

Commission9.30 The natural fix — The role of ecosystems in climate

mitigation: Tim Kasten, Deputy Director of the Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya

First session

What we know about carbon stocks in Europe and beyond Chair: Michael Hamell, Head of the Agriculture, Forests and Soil Unit, Environment DG, European Commission

10.30 The projected effects of climate change on European carbon stocks: Riccardo Valentini, Università della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy

11.00 Preliminary results of a Europe-wide survey on soil organic matter levels: Roland Hiederer, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy

11.30 Soil organic carbon: a trigger in the climate change process: Franz Makeschin, Chairman of the Soil Protection Commission, Umweltbundesamt, Dessau, Germany

12.00 Questions and answers

Thursday 23 September 2010

Second session

The role of agriculture in providing ecosystem services

Chair: Leen Hordijk, Director, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy

14.00 Soil ecosystem services and farmers economy: preliminary results of the SoilService research project: Katarina Hedlund, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

14.30 Agricultural practices that favour the increase of soil organic matter

Philippe Ciais, Associate Director, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, Gif-sur-Yvette, France


Third session

The contribution of soils to mitigation and adaptation Chair: Jos Delbeke, Director-General, Climate Action DG, European Commission

16.00 Presentation of the Soil Atlas of the Circumpolar Region Luca Montanarella, Soil Action Leader, Institute for

Environment and Sustainability, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy

16.30 The conservation of peatlands: a win-win opportunity for fighting climate change, protecting water and maintaining biodiversity

Matthias Drösler, Technische Universität München, Freising, Germany

17.00 Questions and answers17.30 Closing remarks

Jos Delbeke, Director-General, Climate Action DG, European Commission


9.00 Welcome and Introduction by the Chair Ladislav Miko, Director for Nature, Environment DG,

European Commission

Keynote address9.15 Soils for food security, ecosystem services and climate

change adaptation and mitigation: Vandana Shiva, Director of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy, New Delhi, India

Fourth session

The life we walk on — The huge variety of biodiversity in soil

9.45 Presentation of the Soil Biodiversity Atlas of the Joint Research Centre: Ciro Gardi, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy

10.15 The huge variety of life in soils Wim H. Van der Putten, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, The Netherlands

10.45 Coffee break

11.10 The biological engine of the earth: the functional role of soil biodiversity: Karl Ritz, Cranfield University, United Kingdom

11.30 Soil biodiversity: an excellent way to raise soil awareness Gabriele Broll, University of Osnabrück, Germany


Friday 24 September 2010

Fifth session

The policy aspects of soil biodiversity protection

Chair: Leen Hordijk, Director, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy

13.45 Soil biodiversity at the international level post-2010 David Coates, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological

Diversity, Montreal, Canada

14.15 Making soil biodiversity work for ecosystem goods and services: Lijbert Brussaard, Wageningen University, The Netherlands


15.30 Panel discussion Soil, climate change and biodiversity: synergies and

opportunities

Moderator: Karl Falkenberg, Director-General, Environment DG, European Commission

Participants:• Marnix De Vrieze, Head of Land and Soil Protection, Subsoil,

and Natural Resources Division, Flanders, representative of the Belgian Presidency of the Council

• Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, Member of the Environment Committee, European Parliament

• Tim Kasten, Deputy Director of the Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya

• Ladislav Miko, Director for Nature, Environment DG, European Commission

• Vandana Shiva, Director of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy, New Delhi, India

17.30 Closing remarks Karl Falkenberg, Director-General, Environment DG,

European Commission

17.45 End of conference


10

Thursday 23 September 2010

Summary of the introductory remarks — Karl Falkenberg, Director-General, Environment Directorate-General, European Commission

During this two-day conference we will have the opportunity to focus on the interactions between soil, climate change and biodiversity. But the star among these three issues will be the soil. I hope we are going to have interesting discussions on the crucial services that soil provides, like food production, that allow life on this planet. In particular, we will discuss the impacts and importance of soil both for climate change and biodiversity.

Soil remains in many ways the poor cousin when it comes to environmental issues. Water, air, climate change and ecosystems tend to be better understood by the public. However, soil is still very often only associated with the dirt on our feet. We constantly walk on soil. We see soil every day. But its value is rarely thought about or discussed.

Soil is the very vulnerable skin of this planet which allows life in the forms that we know. We are becoming increasingly aware that soil is being attacked in many ways: erosion, contamination, overexploitation, urbanisation, etc. The threats to our soils are numerous

and their impacts can easily be seen in Europe and all across the planet. This also has consequences in terms of climate change and biodiversity.

Soil is an important sink for CO2 as it contains far more organic carbon than the amount we are desperately trying to save in terms of emissions. In 2009, Copenhagen failed over seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by some 17 billion tonnes. In the EU alone, we have more that 70 billion tonnes of organic carbon captured in our soils. This gives an idea of how important soil is in terms of climate change and of the need to properly manage our soils in order to keep its function as a CO2 sink.

Soil is a source of biodiversity. A very large number of our species live in soils. Most of these species have not even been clearly identified. We are just beginning to understand the multitude of forms of life in soil and their importance in maintaining fertile soil, clean waters, and all the essential services that we need to support our very existence on this planet.

The European Commission has been trying for a number of years now to focus on soil and to highlight its value and its importance for a healthy environment. Without soil there is no food. Without soil there is simply no life on this planet. The European Soil Thematic Strategy, which has now existed for a number of years, certainly has the merit of addressing the issue but has not had any measurable effects in terms of improving the situation of soils in Europe. The draft Soil Framework Directive has been on the table at the Council for some years. Unfortunately, the debates are not moving forward with any promising speed.

The European Commission wants to highlight that if we want to have an integrated, comprehensive and coherent European environmental policy, we need to tackle all aspects of the environment. Soil is, together with air and water, one of the pillars of a coherent environmental policy aiming at maintaining a healthy environment in Europe and beyond that continues to support the existence of a growing world population on this planet.


Video Message — Janez Potočnik, Environment Commissioner, European Commission

Soil is home to more than a quarter of the world’s biodiversity. But we really don’t know enough about it. This year, the EU Commission published a study on soil biodiversity and policy and the JRC produced the European Soil Biodiversity Atlas. Both studies will be presented today.

Healthy soil depends on the life forms living below the ground, from bacteria to hedgehogs. This rich biodiversity brings immense benefits to life on Earth. Our well-being depends on those complex processes. Nearly everything we eat depends on healthy soil.

But soil biodiversity is under threat: today, over 250 million people are already directly affected by land degradation, with Africa particularly threatened. In Europe, it is estimated that land degradation affects more than two thirds of the Romanian countryside. These are serious threats to the stability of terrestrial ecosystems, to environmental quality and to food security.

Next month [October 2010], the parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity will meet in Japan to discuss the best ways to improve global biodiversity protection. But conservation work generally neglects soil organisms. Why? Because we don’t know enough about this complex, vital, and non-renewable resource.

Ignorance, ladies and gentlemen, is not bliss.

We will not meet our goals in terms of protecting biodiversity, fighting climate change, and safeguarding our resources until we understand soil. And the sooner the better.

To conclude, I’m particularly proud of this excellent cooperation between two of the Commission departments closest to my heart. I hope it will continue in the future. I wish you a fruitful conference.

Summary of the Keynote Address: The natural fix — The role of ecosystems in climate mitigation — Tim Kasten, Deputy Director of the Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya

The presentation explored the links between ecosystems and climate change mitigation, highlighting the point that protecting biodiversity and natural ecosystems are a cost-effective and sustainable way of safeguarding and restoring carbon since natural systems from forests to grasslands have been capturing and storing carbon for millennia.

Ensuring that carbon is not released from three systems — forests, peatlands and agriculture — might, over the coming decades, prevent the release of well over 50 billion tonnes of carbon (Gt C) emissions that would otherwise enter the atmosphere. Reducing deforestation rates by 50 % by 2050 and then maintaining them at this level until 2100 would prevent the direct release of up to 50 Gt C this century, which is equivalent to 12 % of the emission reductions needed to keep atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide below 450 ppm. Peatlands are a special case in the management of a global carbon cycle as peat soils store huge amounts of carbon (550 Gt C globally). Peatland degradation contributes to emissions of up to 0.8 Gt C a year, much of which could be


12

avoided through restoration. As for agriculture, a challenging but achievable goal is to make agriculture carbon-neutral by 2030. This could happen if best management practices were widely adopted (equivalent to up to 2 Gt C a year). There are numerous practices and tools to reduce carbon losses from soil, for example low-till practices, which also help to protect soil biodiversity and maintain its physical structure.

Currently, instead of maintaining and enhancing their capacity to capture and store carbon, ecosystems are being degraded at an alarming rate and becoming a source of greenhouse gases. As the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment shows, in order to satisfy growing demand for food, fresh water, timber, fibre and fuel, ecosystems have degraded more rapidly and extensively over the past 50 years than in any comparable period in human history.

The presentation suggested ways in which we can work with our natural systems rather than against them to articulate, implement and monitor strategies and action plans for climate change adaptation and mitigation. It stressed the need to adequately measure the value and benefits of multiple ecosystem services in order to adopt a win-win-win approach to mitigation, adaptation and sustainable development.

Tim Kasten closed with a presentation of some of the ongoing UNEP initiatives aimed at translating these recommendations into action.


First session: What we know about carbon stocks in Europe and beyond

Summary of the presentations

The projected effects of climate change on European carbon stocks — Riccardo Valentini, Università della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy

Riccardo Valentini addressed different factors with a potential impact on future carbon stocks, differentiating climate-driven from direct anthropogenic factors.

Currently about 45 % of total greenhouse gas emissions remain in the atmosphere; the other 55 % are stored in land and ocean ecosystems. In particular, terrestrial carbon accounts for about 2.8 billion tonnes of carbon (Gt C) annually in sinks, both in living biomass and soils. Remarkably, the same order of magnitude is emitted by terrestrial land as a result of climate perturbations and human activity. Although the climate’s effects on the terrestrial biosphere’s capacity to capture carbon have still not been fully captured, some modelling work points to a climate effect on land carbon uptake of 18 %. Extreme climate events, such as wind storms, fires, snow, heat waves, etc., also play a major role in the biosphere-atmosphere exchange flux. According to some models, increases in temperature and moisture may transform the current terrestrial sink into a source in the future: in the Boreal region, the carbon in vegetation would increase, but soil emissions would increase even more.

On a European scale, forest is the only land-use type that stores carbon in aboveground biomass. These stocks have grown mainly because the harvest has been lower than growth for the last few decades. Forest standing-stocks have nearly tripled in the last 50 years. However, this accumulation should not hide the fact that the carbon incorporated in forest biomass is vulnerable to natural disturbances such as fire and pests, and of course to harvest. Thus, this sink component of forest should not be regarded as permanent or secure. The size of the forest sink depends on stand age and forest management, atmospheric nitrogen deposition, climate perturbations, fertilisation and disturbances such as fires, storms and pests.

Experimental data shows that the carbon age of European forest soils can be as high as 400–1000 years. The main conclusion was that the conservation of soil organic carbon, i.e. of the carbon already present in soil, may be more effective than reforestation or any other practice aiming at capturing atmospheric carbon.

Preliminary results of a Europe-wide survey on soil organic matter levels — Roland Hiederer, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy

Roland Hiederer presented the BioSoil project, which aims to demonstrate how a large-scale European study can provide harmonised soil and biodiversity data and contribute to research and forest-related policies. This demonstration project includes a soil and a biodiversity module.

Under the soil module, the evaluation focuses on measurements related to organic carbon and the assessment of the temporal and spatial variability of organic carbon in forest soils. The project successfully demonstrated that large-scale monitoring of soil conditions and biodiversity in forests is feasible.

Although the evaluation of the BioSoil data is still ongoing, Roland Hiederer presented some preliminary findings concerning data collection and analysis. These findings refer to aspects such as the geographic location of the sampling plots, the spatial variability of the parameters used, and the application of local methods for separating the organic layer from the soil material. He also presented some recommendations to be implemented in future soil sampling and monitoring projects in order to improve the quality of the data collected and the reliability of the results.


14

Soil organic carbon: a trigger in the climate change process — Franz Makeschin, the Soil Protection Commission, Umweltbundesamt, Dessau, Germany

Franz Makeschin presented the important impact that soil organic carbon has on ecological and economic soil functions. He highlighted the drivers of soil organic matter, the contents and regional distribution of carbon in soils and its determinants (texture, climate, hydromorphology, and land use). Based on these factors, changes in soil organic matter as a result of land use intensity, cropping systems and fertilisation regimes were discussed and the options and risks for organic matter conservation were presented.

Although the role of soils in the global carbon cycle is currently receiving a lot of attention, our knowledge of soil carbon stocks still lacks data at regional, national and global scales. But it is very important: a decrease by 0.2 % of organic carbon in German soils is of the same order of magnitude as about half the annual German fossil fuel emissions. Models of the future development of soil carbon storage are characterised by high uncertainty, so available estimates of possible land use and climate change scenarios produce extreme ranges and uncertain results.

Franz Makeschin stressed that the aim of management practices should be to ensure that soil has a level of humus content that is optimal to support all its functions rather than seek to simply maximise carbon sequestration. He noted that around 18 % of the carbon fluxes in Germany came from peatlands, making carbon-rich soils a prime candidate for conservation. Concerning the potential for increasing carbon sequestration through, for example, biochar, and artificial soil improvers, he called for a precautionary approach as there are more hazardous compounds in ‘waste’ (e.g. sewage sludge) than in harvest residues. Franz Makeschin stressed that new solutions should only be applied if improving effects were clear and proven.

Conserving high value soils is the best way to maintain soil organic carbon and soil functions. This includes protecting bogs, marshlands, and wetland sites, avoiding ploughing, and keeping good agricultural practices (particularly crop rotation).


Second session: The role of agriculture in providing ecosystem services

Summary of the presentationsSoil ecosystem services and farmers economy: preliminary results of the SoilService research project — Katarina Hedlund, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

Katarina Hedlund explained why soil biodiversity is pivotal to providing crucial services (nutrients and water retention, carbon storage, resistance to pests, regulation of above ground diversity, etc.) and goods (food, feed, biofuel, clean water, cultural values, etc). The intensification of agriculture leads to the decline of carbon in soil, which has a direct impact on the biological activity of soil organisms. The services and goods provided by soils are then negatively affected or even impeded.

She presented some preliminary results from the research project SOILSERVICE aiming at understanding how can ecosystem services be used to promote sustainable soil use in agriculture. The presentation showed that in intensively managed agricultural systems, soil organisms deliver lower levels of ecosystem services. For instance, services such as carbon retention are 25 % to 70 % lower in intensively managed fields compared to pasture in the same areas.

Moreover, data from Swedish long-term experiments show that soil carbon in agricultural soils (with continuous annual crop production) has declined at a rate of 1 % per year over the past 50 years. The rate of soil biological activity is directly related to the soil carbon level, hence, with this data, impacts on farm profit can be projected under different scenarios for the future and changes in soil carbon stocks. The results show that, with current farming practices and declining carbon levels, an economically sustainable farm will be less economically sustainable in 25 years while, with similar rates of soil biological activity but instead increasing levels of soil carbon, the production of ecosystem services would instead cover losses in production and return profits for the farmers.

Agricultural practices that favour the increase of soil organic matter — Philippe Ciais, Associate Director, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

Philippe Ciais presented the potential of agricultural practices to increase soil organic matter both by reducing carbon losses and by increasing carbon input. The material presented was prepared with Prof. P. Smith (University of Aberdeen). The presentation was based on results from several models and case studies. For instance, the model ORCHIDEE-STICS allows determining which practices have the greatest influence on the soil carbon balance, given agricultural history, and the associated range of uncertainty.

The results were compared with simulations from another soil carbon model (ROTHC), with site scale estimates from the CARBOEUROPE programme, and with regional soil carbon change inventories for EU-25 countries / regions.

At global level, agricultural land could represent a sink of 0.9 billion tonnes of carbon (GT C) per year if adequate practices were implemented. In Europe alone, it is possible to increase the (technical) potential agriculture land carbon sink by a factor of ten, reaching 0.2 Gt C per year compared to the current 20 million tonnes per year.

In order to reach the European target of an increase in global average temperatures of no more than 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, the EU needs to adopt an emission reduction target of at least 30 % of fossil fuel emissions below 1990 levels by 2020. This corresponds to an annual emission reduction target of 0.3 Gt C, or 3 Gt C over the ten-year period 2010-2020. If this sequestration were to be entirely realised on European agricultural land (250 million hectares), obviously an extreme scenario, it would imply an increase in ecosystem carbon of 12 tonnes per hectare in one decade, or 1.2 tonnes


16

per hectare per year. By way of comparison, at present cropland is estimated to be a source of 0 to 2.5 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year, while grassland is estimated to be a sink of about 0.6-0.9 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year.

Philippe Ciais presented examples of agricultural practices that favour the increase of soil organic matter, both in croplands and in grasslands, and briefly commented on the related costs of such practices. Results from studies show that soil carbon sequestration globally has a large and cost-competitive mitigation potential. He concluded by quoting Bill Schlesinger who said that it was easier to leave the marbles in the jar than to tip them out and try to pick them all up again — a clear indication that it is better to keep carbon where it is than trying to put it back when it has left the soil.


Third session: The contribution of soils to mitigation and adaptation

Summary of the presentationsSummary of the presentation of the Soil Atlas of the Circumpolar Region — Luca Montanarella, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy

Luca Montanarella presented the Soil Atlas of the Circumpolar Region produced by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission as part of a collaborative project to collate information on soil in northern latitudes.

The atlas, a book of 144 pages in A3 format, covers all land surfaces in Eurasia and North America above the latitude of 50o N (from about mid-Germany northwards). Its main goal is to inform the public, policy makers, land managers, and the general scientific community of the unique characteristics of northern soil and to raise awareness of its environmental importance and global significance.

On the basis of the atlas, Luca Montanarella presented the main characteristics of the different soil types that can be found in this environment. He highlighted that soil in the northern latitudes stores up to half of the Earth’s soil carbon, whilst covering only 15 % of the Earth’s terrestrial surface. However, increased temperatures in the Arctic and Boreal regions are causing permafrost-affected areas to thaw, thus allowing the huge mass of poorly decomposed organic matter presently locked in the frozen soil to decompose. As a result, significant quantities of greenhouse gases (e.g. CO2, CH4, and N2O) could be released into the atmosphere. These emissions can initiate a snow-ball effect that will increase greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at an accelerating rate and greatly intensify the processes driving climate change.

The Soil Atlas of the Northern Circumpolar Region, undertaken under the auspices of the International Polar Year Programme, is the first compilation providing all the available information on this carbon pool and other important data on northern soils. The atlas will therefore provide valuable scientific input to climate change and sustainable development models.

The conservation of peatlands: a win-win opportunity for fighting climate change, protecting water and maintaining biodiversity — Matthias Drösler, Technische Universität München, Freising, Germany

Matthias Drösler started by presenting background information on the types, distribution and functioning of peatlands. At a global level, peatlands contain about 30 % of the total soil organic carbon, whilst covering only 3 % of the Earth’s land surface.

He commented on the results of a European project for the assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange in peatlands which shows that EU peatlands are a net source of about 32 million tonnes of carbon equivalent and that when converted to croplands they have the highest GHG emission factor, followed by grassland. Natural peatlands, on the contrary, are practically carbon neutral. Matthias Drösler showed the results for the countries with the largest surface of peatlands: Finland, Sweden, Norway, Belarus, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Ireland and Estonia. Germany is sixth in terms of surface of peatlands but its peatlands rank first in terms of GHG emissions. The main reason is that most of them have been converted to farmland (grasslands and croplands).

Following these results, another project assessed the GHG exchange of German peatlands, which represent a carbon pool of 1.2-2.4 billion tonnes and contribute 4.5 % of Germany’s overall climate impact. Only 8 % of farmland is on peatlands in Germany, but it is responsible for about 30 % of the total emissions of the whole German farming sector.

This project showed that the main driving factors affecting fluxes of GHG in peatlands are the water table and land use


18

intensity. Adequate management practices targeting these factors have the potential to reduce GHG emissions greatly.

Summary of the closing remarks — Jos Delbeke, Director-General, Climate Action Directorate-General, European Commission

Jos Delbeke started by pointing out that soil is the largest terrestrial carbon stock. In the EU alone, the carbon in the soil represents almost 50 times the annual greenhouse gas emissions. Protecting the soil carbon stock and other carbon-storing ecosystems is a cost-effective way to mitigate climate change. The conservation and restoration of carbon-rich soils like peatlands, wetlands and permanent grasslands should therefore be made a priority.

Soils can be an active carbon sink or emission source depending on local conditions. Many land use changes transform a relatively carbon-rich environment into a carbon-poor one. Agriculture — both arable farming and livestock farms — has an important role to play in combating climate change. Farms will become less viable as carbon levels decline further. Some agriculture management practices, such as integrating crop residues in the soil and applying conservation agriculture techniques such as reduced tillage, are able to slowly

increase the amount of carbon in the soil.

Climate change itself will put further pressure on carbon in the soil and related soil fertility and soil structure. Desertification is a problem not only for Africa but also for our own Southern Member States, and it is moving northward. Healthy, stable, fertile and resilient soil is by definition soil with relatively high carbon content. Such stable soil will be able to resist the impacts of climate change much better than degraded or carbon-depleted soil.

Under the United Nations Framework Convention to Combat Climate Change, the issue of terrestrial carbon stores and related carbon fluxes (sinks/sources) is situated in the broader context of LULUCF (Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry) for the EU and other industrialised countries, and REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) for developing countries. The EU’s position on LULUCF is that it is crucial to settle on accounting rules and have a good understanding of their impacts before agreeing on economy-wide targets. In 2011, the Commission will report on how LULUCF could be included in the EU’s greenhouse gas reduction target. To this end, the Commission has begun ambitious consultation processes, including a public consultation. REDD aims mainly at reducing emissions from deforestation, which accounts for about 15 % of global emissions. The mechanism offers significant side-benefits for the protection of forests, soils and biodiversity. The EU wants to see gross tropical deforestation halved from current levels by 2020 and global forest cover loss halted by 2030.

Jos Delbeke finished by pointing again to the role of soil carbon stocks and its fluxes on climate change and on environmental, social and economic functions worldwide. He reminded the audience of the potential of green technologies and natural solutions as part of the climate toolbox.


Friday 24 September 2010

Summary of the introductory remarks — Ladislav Miko, Director for Nature, Environment Directorate-General, European Commission

Ladislav Miko referred to the tenth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity Nagoya, Japan — October 2010) as a great opportunity to demonstrate the importance of soils for biodiversity. Soils are the habitat and resource-base for a large part of global biodiversity. No terrestrial ecosystem functions without soil. However, this huge biodiversity is largely still unknown.

Soil is not important only because of biodiversity but because of the many irreplaceable services it provides. There is no artificial substitute for soil and its microorganisms. Those organisms play a crucial role in producing organic matter and thus fixing carbon. They are also involved in many other services like the water and nutrient cycles. Soil degradation causes these services to deteriorate. In the context of a changing climate, we cannot continue weakening the valuable tool that soil represents to control events like floods. A healthy and stable soil has a greater capacity to store water than a degraded one.

Ladislav Miko closed by inviting everyone to learn more about the huge variety of soil microorganisms by looking closely at them.

Summary of the Keynote Address: Soils for food security, ecosystem services and climate change adaptation and mitigation — Vandana Shiva, Director of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy, New Delhi, India

Vandana Shiva started by reminding the audience that fertile soils rich in organic matter are our best insurance against food insecurity and climate vulnerability. However, industrial agriculture treats soils as an empty container for industrial fertilisers. After World War I, manufacturers of explosives, whose factories were equipped to fix nitrogen, had to find other markets for their products. Synthetic fertilisers provided a convenient conversion for peaceful uses of war products.

Industrial agriculture was introduced as the ‘Green Revolution’ in India in the 1960s. It was first introduced in the Punjab (land of the five rivers), a very fertile agriculture area. The green revolution has been presented as having addressed the food security issue and therefore the nutritional issue. However, replacing soil fertility with chemical fertilisers was neither green nor revolutionary. It caused the destruction of soils, eroding food security and increasing greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change. Moreover, the green revolution did not look at food as the diversity of the food basket but only in terms of traded commodities: wheat and rice. As a consequence Punjab was transformed into a monoculture.

The introduction of dwarf varieties of crops made less and less straw available to soil microorganisms. In the process you starve the soil, and by starving the soil you starve the people.

Vandana Shiva warned of what she called the current ‘carbon mentality’ consisting in feeding soils with charcoal (biochar) in order to increase carbon sequestration. She criticised the inconsistency between trying to increase carbon fixation in soil while at the same time continuing to burn biomass, releasing carbon that has been naturally fixed. She also claimed that charcoal does not provide an appropriate ‘diet’ for soil organisms and results in worse soil quality. But the most worrying aspect, in Vandana Shiva’s view, is that this opens a window of opportunity to dump all kind of waste as ‘biochar’, and this will put soil quality and the food chain in danger.

Finally, Vandana Shiva called for a shift in our approach to agriculture. She claimed that we cannot continue to look at it only in terms of traded commodities. We have to consider biodiversity, soil quality, etc. as productive factors to be maximised. Food production, mitigation of climate change and ecosystem services are one and the same thing — and all rely on biodiversity and soil biodiversity.


20

Fourth session:The life we walk on — The huge variety of biodiversity in soil

Summary of the presentationsPresentation of the Soil Biodiversity Atlas — Ciro Gardi, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy

Soil has hitherto been a missing piece of the great puzzle that is global biodiversity. Our knowledge of the variety of organisms, the complex interactions and especially the functioning of the life within soil is still relatively limited.

At EU level, the move towards soil protection reached an important milestone with the adoption of the Soil Thematic Strategy, which outlines the need to improve our knowledge of soil biodiversity in order to protect it.

European policy on biodiversity conservation, synthesised in the Biodiversity Action Plan ‘Halting biodiversity losses by 2010’, is in the mainstream of the objectives of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). According to Ciro Gardi, soil biodiversity is at the root of sustainable agriculture.

Concerning soil biodiversity, in 2007 the Joint Research Centre (JRC) received a specific mandate by the CBD to investigate aspects related to this important compartment of

biological diversity. Ciro Gardi presented the European Atlas of Soil Biodiversity which is a first contribution of the JRC and thus of the European Commission towards these objectives. This atlas aims at providing a scientifically robust, yet at the same time enjoyable introduction to the life below ground: the kind of organisms that live in the soil, their functional roles and the economic value of the ecosystem services they provide. Details are also given concerning the current threats to soil biodiversity, with the first ever threat map for soil biodiversity, highlighting areas within Europe where soil biodiversity is most under threat.

The huge variety of life in soils — Wim H. Van der Putten, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, The Netherlands

Wim H.Van der Putten reminded the audience about the tremendous variation of life in the soil: one gram of soil contains thousands of species of microbes, ten thousands of individual cells and some hundred metres of fungal hyphae.

He pointed out that effects of climate change on soil-vegetation systems have been predominantly studied by changing ambient conditions related to anticipated future climate conditions and determining the responses of the local soil organisms, plants and ecosystem processes. However, recent studies have shown that species may shift their ranges as a consequence of climate warming, so that the composition of local communities of plants and soil organisms will change as well. Ecosystems of the future will, therefore, not only experience different climate and environmental conditions, but they also will harbour other species assemblages. So far, very few studies have considered that both the abiotic environmental conditions and the below and above ground species assemblages will change. One of the key factors that constrain the reliability of the predictions so far is that climate change may not only affect species’ performance, but also species’ interactions,

which can result in non-linear and non-gradual changes in community composition and ecosystem processes.

Wim H Van der Putten closed by stressing that everything we eat, drink, wear or use as natural construction material passes through the soil and its organisms over and over again. Therefore, this huge variety of soil life is pivotal to the sustainability of human life on Earth. This should make us aware of the need to protect soil diversity and enable the small creatures that live below ground to perform their crucial activities. Soil is, in fact, the final frontier on Earth.


The biological engine of the earth: the functional role of soil biodiversity — Karl Ritz, Cranfield University, United Kingdom

Karl Ritz presented three important mechanisms which underlie the relationships between biodiversity and function. First, repertoire: for a biologically-mediated process to occur, organisms that carry out the process must be present, otherwise the process will not occur, and the delivery of associated functions will be compromised. An example of this is where soil fauna may be affected by heavy metal pollution and the incorporation of plant litter into the soil fabric is delayed, resulting in an accumulation of such material near the soil surface.

Secondly, redundancy: the more organisms there are that can carry out a function in a particular soil, the more likely it is that if some organisms are incapacitated or removed the process will remain unaffected; those that remain may subsequently fill the gap. There is generally greater redundancy in ‘ecologically broad’ processes, such as organic matter decomposition, than in ‘ecologically narrow’ functions, such as specific symbiotic associations (for example, between legumes and bacteria, or orchids and fungi).

Finally, relationships and interactions: most soil organisms have the capacity to directly or indirectly influence other organisms, either positively or negatively. Greater diversity of organisms offers greater potential for interaction, and a more complex network of interactions may be more adaptive to change and resilient to perturbation.

Karl Ritz closed by stressing that soil communities are fundament to soil functions, providing the ‘biological toolbox’ which underpins a huge range of soil-based processes. The basic diversity of this toolbox provides the foundation for the delivery of the functions required at present but also provides potential for the future, contributing resilience to soil systems.

Soil biodiversity: an excellent way to raise soil awareness — Gabriele Broll, University of Osnabrück, Germany

The need to raise awareness and understanding of the importance of soil and soil biodiversity has been highlighted at national, European and global scales. Soil awareness means responsible behaviour towards soils and soil management, based on knowledge and attitude.

Gabriele Broll presented her experience in raising soil awareness among young children. It is much easier to raise awareness of soil organisms than of the non-living properties of soil. Everything which moves attracts the attention, especially of young children. The best place to teach is in the field, where children can investigate for themselves the role that biodiversity plays in keeping our soils alive. A promising way to reach children and the public is to learn outside school, for example in soil museums with living animals or on nature walks that tell the story of a soil and the soil organisms in a particular landscape.

Gabriele Broll believed that soil biodiversity should be more widely included in education curricula as it provides an excellent example of the variety and abundance of organisms on Earth and the essential functions that soil organisms support. Several national attempts are being made to incorporate such issues into biology and geography classes.

Soil awareness activities at European level are mainly conducted by the ‘Soil Awareness and Education’ Working Group in the European Soil Bureau Network (ESBN) with representatives from nine countries. One task of the working group is to establish an action plan for developing measures, programmes and initiatives to raise awareness of the importance of soil across European society. In 2009 a European Network on Soil Awareness (ENSA) was set up with the aim of bringing together all people who work on soil awareness, from local and regional up to European level.


22

Fifth session:The policy aspects of soil biodiversity protection

Summary of the presentationsSoil biodiversity at the international level post 2010 — David Coates, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, Canada

David Coates introduced the work of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and described its main objective as the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. The final aim of the CBD is to bring biodiversity into the development agenda.

Soil biodiversity was identified as an area requiring particular attention when the work programme on agricultural biodiversity was being developed between the third (1996) and the seventh (2004) Conferences of the Parties. This eventually led to the adoption in 2006 of the International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Soil Biodiversity. The goals of this initiative include the promotion of awareness-raising, knowledge and understanding of the role of soil biodiversity and mainstreaming of soil biodiversity conservation into land and soil management practices. The soil biodiversity initiative has also helped to highlight the importance of this subject within inter-governmental processes.

There is some convergence of interests in soils and increasing recognition of the importance of their functions. Water and carbon cycles are the most important large-scale

bio-geological processes for life on Earth and soil plays a crucial role in both of them. Implementation of ecosystem management activities, including the protection of peatlands and sustainable agricultural practices and soil management, are consistent with and a means towards achieving the objectives of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention to Combat Desertification and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Soil is increasingly regarded as a platform for cooperation between these three conventions in relation to synergies between land degradation, biodiversity and climate change and emerging more prominently in proposed joint work programmes.

Making soil biodiversity work for ecosystem goods and services — Lijbert Brussaard, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Making soil biodiversity work for ecosystem goods and services is a challenge to scientists, politicians and practitioners alike. Although (soil) biodiversity conservation is a legitimate goal in its own right, the case becomes much stronger if (soil) biodiversity appears to be associated with the sustained delivery of ecosystem goods and services.

Trade-offs and synergies may occur between different ecosystem services. Greenhouse gases are a case in point. They are produced to a large extent locally by microorganisms in soil, while their effect on air temperature and climate is global. To illustrate this, Lijbert Brussaard presented an example of how earthworm diversity is related to trade-offs between carbon sequestration (supposedly mitigating global warming) and nitrous oxide production in soil (exacerbating global warming). It is important that we know these trade-offs since they might determine the success of our management practices. For instance, conventional tillage agriculture reduces the number of earthworms in the soil and this means less carbon sequestration but also less nitrous oxide emissions. On the contrary, no-tillage agriculture would increase carbon sequestration but also nitrous oxide emission. Management measures should be based on global warming calculation not only on carbon balance.


One of the issues to be considered right from the beginning is that of scale. Research and implementation programmes on biodiversity rarely consider multiple scales from genes to the globe. We should look at trait diversity rather than at species diversity, as this allows us to connect certain properties of organisms to ecosystem functions and to ecosystem services. This in turn would allow the building of human-induced assemblages of trait-based communities in agriculture.

Lijbert Brussaard called for the ecological intensification of agriculture based on increasing the use efficiency of external resources (water, fertilisers, etc) and internal resources (biodiversity based functions). The objective should be to design an agricultural landscape that is both rich in diversity and species and more productive. This is the aim of the European Learning Network on Functional Biodiversity, which provides a platform for exchanging good practices.


24

Panel discussion:Soil, climate change and biodiversity:

synergies and opportunities

Summary of the Interventions

Marnix De Vrieze, Head of Land and Soil Protection, Subsoil, and Natural Resources Division, Flanders, representative of the Belgian Presidency of the Council

Marnix De Vrieze began by referring to the EU Conference on Biodiversity held in September 2010 in Gent, where the Belgian minister for the environment highlighted the importance of soil protection for biodiversity.

He emphasised the wish of the Belgian Presidency of the Environment Council that soil protection gets a higher place on the international agenda in the future and that specific policy steps can be taken at EU and global levels. For this to happen, a balance needs to be reached between sustainable use of soils and economic activity.

Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, Member of the Environment Committee, European Parliament

Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy explained the existing paradox in relation to soil protection. On the one hand, there is broad agreement that soil is a crucial and vital element of the ecosystem and that it needs protection. On the other hand, the cost of soil protection is very high, particularly the cost of remediating contaminated sites. Politicians are not ready to bear these costs, mostly since soil problems are not perceived as urgent.

Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy referred to the case of Netherlands, which was very supportive of the Soil Framework Directive back in 2004, but changed its position after realising how much it would cost. He was of the opinion that the large majority in favour of the Directive at the first reading in the European Parliament in 2007 could change at the second reading.

Tim Kasten, Deputy Director of the Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya

Tim Kasten recalled that there is a wide agreement that soil provides vital services. The economic values of these services, particularly carbon storage and capture, are high enough to offset the costs of soil protection.


He stressed the need for adequate management of peatlands and tropical areas, as these ecosystems are key when it comes to the link between soil, climate change and biodiversity. In addition, adequate management practices, particularly in agricultural land, should look at the total greenhouse gas balance rather than just the carbon balance.

Finally Tim Kasten stressed that policy making had to depend on sound scientific work. He also stressed the need to improve the communication of scientific results in order to bring science into policy.

Vandana Shiva, Director of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy, New Delhi, India

Vandana Shiva highlighted the crucial role of soil in the water cycle, particularly as a water reservoir. In degraded soils (because of erosion, sealing, decrease in organic matter, etc.), the increased impact of droughts and floods could be seen.

She also referred to the role of biodiversity in fighting climate change, since diverse systems are more resilient. This is even clearer when it comes to agriculture, as monoculture is more vulnerable to climatic conditions than multicultural land. Biodiversity should be considered insurance against climate change.

In this context, Vandana Shiva called for abandoning agriculture based on intensifying external inputs (energy, water, chemicals, etc.) and a shift towards ecological intensification of agricultural land, understood as intensifying the functions and services of ecosystems above and below ground.

Ladislav Miko, Director for Nature, Environment Directorate-General, European Commission

Ladislav Miko recalled that the discussions about a European soil protection policy had started three decades before. At that time, it was decided that there was a need to better monitor the soil situation and to take some action in a bottom-up approach. He stressed that, three decades on, the situation of soil in Europe has not improved; on the contrary, in many areas soil quality and quantity have decreased.

European soils face threats linked to erosion, compaction, salinisation, sealing, and many other factors. The loss of soil structure across a large swathe of agricultural land is increasing, posing a serious problem for the future. It is important to look at the flow of energy, which is what connects soil biodiversity to soil fertility, ecosystem services and soil organic matter.

With the Soil framework Directive proposal, the Commission aims to tackle this situation, by asking Member States to define the baseline situation of their soils and to identify actions and measures to be put in place to improve soil condition.

Karl Falkenberg, Director-General, Environment Directorate-General, European Commission

Karl Falkenberg stressed that climate change and biodiversity are two of the main global challenges facing the EU and the world. Science is telling us that our efforts are not in line with the scale of the problems.

He pointed out that the solutions to these challenges must lie within the economic system. To this end, there was a need to work on internalising external parameters. It is important to have solid methodologies to measure better the effect of our policies and the cost of not having policies.

Finally, Karl Falkenberg thanked the speakers and the participants for the interesting and fruitful discussions during the conference.

Soil,Climate Change and Biodiversity - Where do we stand?

26

Photo galery

Soil, Climate Change and Biodiversity Where do we stand? › environment › archives › soil ›...

Documents

Transcript of Soil, Climate Change and Biodiversity Where do we stand? › environment › archives › soil ›...