Recruiting Soil to Tackle Climate Change: A Roadmap for Canada

"Recruiting Soil to Tackle Climate Change: A Roadmap for Canada" is a 2022 report by the Soil Conservation Council of Canada and the Compost Council of Canada aimed at helping more people put carbon into soil and keep it there.  The world’s soils have lost an estimated 133 billion tons of carbon since the beginning of agriculture 12,000 years ago. This loss represents a substantial opportunity for climate-change mitigation via carbon sequestration in soils. The challenges to building soil carbon, however, include socio-economic, political, and cultural barriers. Healthy soil microbial communities build carbon, while also generating societal benefits like clean water, but managing for soil health means adopting best-management practices (BMPs) that often run counter to perceived economic advantage and long-established cultural norms. Soil-carbon sequestration is a “no regrets” approach, applying landscape-based solutions to climate change. It can be implemented at a relatively low cost per tonne of CO2e, and it has numerous co-benefits, such as increased fertility, cleaner water, and greater farm profitability. Moreover, the science behind these statements is not disputed. While there is some disagreement between scientists around the details, even the most conservative among researchers and academics recognize that the potential for building soil carbon levels is real and worth the investment. In fact, soil health is a topic that has been receiving a growing amount of attention worldwide over the past few years  The Soil Conservation Council of Canada and the Compost Council of Canada released the final report in April 2022.   The Roadmap is a call to action and a plan for Canada to create a partnership with soil and with soil managers. And that will deliver significant benefits – for generations to come. More information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0orPeMZVB8 https://soilcc.ca/programs/recruiting-soil-to-tackle-climate-change/ http://www.compost.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Press-Release-Recruit-Soil-to-Tackle-Climate-Change.pdf