With that in mind, two Cornell soil scientists have helped develop a powerful new tool that will help researchers and policymakers map the global potential for carbon sequestration.
Soils Revealed is an open-access, interactive platform that uses cutting-edge technology to model how soil organic carbon has fluctuated over the last 11,000 years and to project soil’s future carbon-storing capacity.
This new tool will help policymakers and nongovernmental organizations meet their regional and national climate goals by pinpointing key areas for soil restoration and for implementing land management practices that limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Launched on Dec. 1, Soils Revealed was developed in collaboration with scientists at The Nature Conservancy, Woodwell Climate Research Center and the International Soil Reference and Information Center.
“This innovative platform delivers the immense opportunities of soils to remove atmospheric carbon dioxide at your fingertips,” said Johannes Lehmann, co-lead investigator and Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS).
“We hope that policymakers and industry get to work and explore where they can help to restore our soils with carbon and mitigate climate change,” Lehmann said.
According to Lehmann, Soils Revealed is the first interactive, global tool that shows how organic carbon in the soil has changed over time, as well as how much potential different land management strategies have to mitigate climate change.
“Soils have a vital role to play in mitigating climate change and supporting biodiversity, but to date we’ve tended to view them too much in static terms,” said Deborah Bossio, project leader and lead soil scientist for The Nature Conservancy. “One of our goals with this launch is to remind policymakers that these complex, millennia-old ecosystems are every bit as dynamic as forests – and every bit as capable of recovery, if the right management practices are prioritized. We already know how to do this; now Soils Revealed can show us where to focus these efforts.”