A Boundary Plane Approach to Map Hotspots for Achievable Soil Carbon Sequestration and Soil Fertility Improvement

Kristin Piikki, Mats Söderström, Rolf Sommer, Mayesse Da Silva, Sussy Munialo and Wuletawu Abera
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Kristin Piikki: Agroecosystems and Sustainable Landscapes (ASL) Research Area, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Mats Söderström: Agroecosystems and Sustainable Landscapes (ASL) Research Area, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Rolf Sommer: Agriculture and Land Use Change, WWF Deutschland, 10117 Berlin, Germany
Mayesse Da Silva: International Center for Tropical Agriculture—CIAT, ASL Research Area, Cali 760001, Colombia
Sussy Munialo: Department of Plant Science and Crop Protection, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, University of Nairobi, Kangemi 00625, Kenya
Wuletawu Abera: International Center for Tropical Agriculture—CIAT, ASL Research Area, Addis Ababa 1000, Ethiopia

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 15, 1-17

Abstract: Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration is important in the global carbon cycle and an integral part of many initiatives and policies to mitigate climate change. For efficient targeting of measures leading to SOC sequestration, it is necessary to know the actual SOC content (%) and a realistic target SOC content (in contrast to the saturation content, which may not be easily achievable) under local biophysical and socioeconomic conditions. We developed a new method for the practical assessment of achievable SOC sequestration concerning soil texture based on a non-linear boundary plane approach, also applicable for mapping of SOC sequestration hotspots. The method was tested at two spatial scales (a 125 km 2 catchment and a 4 km 2 sub-area of that catchment) in a region in Western Kenya characterized by smallholder farming. Moreover, we assessed the associated benefits of increasing the SOC content from a crop production perspective and found significant correlations between SOC and other soil properties (pH, cation exchange capacity, and various plant-available macro- and micronutrients). This indicates a possible improvement in soil fertility when the SOC content is raised to the modeled target levels, which should be attainable without major changes in land use or agricultural systems.

Keywords: soil organic carbon; soil texture; SOC sequestration; hotspot; Western Kenya (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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