L. Ashton, Hannah Lieberman, Callum Morrison, Marie-Élise Samson
{"title":"Carbon sequestration in Canada’s croplands: A review of multiple disciplines influencing the science policy interface","authors":"L. Ashton, Hannah Lieberman, Callum Morrison, Marie-Élise Samson","doi":"10.1139/er-2022-0129","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"One widely recognized climate change mitigation strategy in agriculture is enhancing soil carbon (C) sequestration – the process of capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide and storing it in the soil. By adopting natural climate solutions (NCS) such as cover crops, reduced tillage, and diverse crop rotations, farmers can increase soil C sequestration and co-benefits such as biodiversity. Canada is increasingly interested in better positioning farmers to adopt NCS via government cost-share programs, ecosystem marketplaces, and outreach and education initiatives. Given the policy and market driven interest in soil C sequestration in agriculture, there is a need to advance the science policy interface, ensuring foundational science, NCS implementation, and approaches to promote NCS are aligned. Herein, the objective is to present insights from multiple disciplines that can help build connections between soil carbon sequestration science and policy relevant to Canada's croplands. The method is a review of literature on soil and pedoclimate science, agricultural NCS adoption, agricultural NCS governance, and science policy interfaces to achieve this objective. From this review, key insights underline that Canadian cropland soils do not have a homogenous history in NCS adoption and production type, nor are all regions influenced by the same contextual factors, have the same potential in C storage or exist within the same agri-environmental conditions. Therefore, it is emphasized herein that policies that aim to enhance soil organic carbon in croplands should consider local context and C sequestration potential. Policies and programs implemented locally to enhance C sequestration across Canada should be complemented by nationally scalable measuring and monitoring to ensure outcomes are accounted for against climate goals. This review aims to contribute to building a common understanding of soil C sequestration in Canada’s croplands and its science policy interface. Efforts to further strengthen the science policy interface for soil C sequestration in Canada’s croplands might include greater integration and utilization of science and data from multiple disciplines, co-design and collaborative opportunities, and establishing on-the-ground test projects to explore innovation in policy and market design.","PeriodicalId":50514,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Reviews","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Reviews","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1139/er-2022-0129","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
One widely recognized climate change mitigation strategy in agriculture is enhancing soil carbon (C) sequestration – the process of capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide and storing it in the soil. By adopting natural climate solutions (NCS) such as cover crops, reduced tillage, and diverse crop rotations, farmers can increase soil C sequestration and co-benefits such as biodiversity. Canada is increasingly interested in better positioning farmers to adopt NCS via government cost-share programs, ecosystem marketplaces, and outreach and education initiatives. Given the policy and market driven interest in soil C sequestration in agriculture, there is a need to advance the science policy interface, ensuring foundational science, NCS implementation, and approaches to promote NCS are aligned. Herein, the objective is to present insights from multiple disciplines that can help build connections between soil carbon sequestration science and policy relevant to Canada's croplands. The method is a review of literature on soil and pedoclimate science, agricultural NCS adoption, agricultural NCS governance, and science policy interfaces to achieve this objective. From this review, key insights underline that Canadian cropland soils do not have a homogenous history in NCS adoption and production type, nor are all regions influenced by the same contextual factors, have the same potential in C storage or exist within the same agri-environmental conditions. Therefore, it is emphasized herein that policies that aim to enhance soil organic carbon in croplands should consider local context and C sequestration potential. Policies and programs implemented locally to enhance C sequestration across Canada should be complemented by nationally scalable measuring and monitoring to ensure outcomes are accounted for against climate goals. This review aims to contribute to building a common understanding of soil C sequestration in Canada’s croplands and its science policy interface. Efforts to further strengthen the science policy interface for soil C sequestration in Canada’s croplands might include greater integration and utilization of science and data from multiple disciplines, co-design and collaborative opportunities, and establishing on-the-ground test projects to explore innovation in policy and market design.
期刊介绍:
Published since 1993, Environmental Reviews is a quarterly journal that presents authoritative literature reviews on a wide range of environmental science and associated environmental studies topics, with emphasis on the effects on and response of both natural and manmade ecosystems to anthropogenic stress. The authorship and scope are international, with critical literature reviews submitted and invited on such topics as sustainability, water supply management, climate change, harvesting impacts, acid rain, pesticide use, lake acidification, air and marine pollution, oil and gas development, biological control, food chain biomagnification, rehabilitation of polluted aquatic systems, erosion, forestry, bio-indicators of environmental stress, conservation of biodiversity, and many other environmental issues.