Table of Contents

1.Introduction: soil carbon sequestration – a process linking soils to humanity: C. Rumpel, CNRS, Sorbonne University, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences Paris, France;

Part 1 Understanding carbon sequestration in soils
2.Mechanisms of soil organic carbon sequestration and implications for management: Ingrid Kögel-Knabner, Chair of Soil Science, TUM School of Life Sciences and Institute for Advanced Study, Technical University of Munich, Germany; Martin Wiesmeier, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich and Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture, Institute for Organic Farming, Soil and Resource Management, Germany; and Stefanie Mayer, Chair of Soil Science, TUM School of Life Sciences, Germany;
3.Plant influences on soil organic carbon dynamics: Xiaojuan Feng, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences and College of Resources and Environment, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China;
4.Biological basis of soil organic carbon sequestration: a complex set of interactive processes: Patrick Lavelle, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences Paris, Sorbonne University, France;
5.Understanding soil organic carbon dynamics at larger scales: Sebastian Doetterl, ETH Zurich, Switzerland; Rose Abramoff, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA; Jean-Thomas Cornelis, University of British Columbia, Canada; Aline Frossard, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Switzerland; Peter Fiener, Institute of Geography, Augsburg University, Germany; Gina Garland, ETH Zurich and Soil Quality and Use Group, Agroscope, Switzerland; Michael Kaiser, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA; Moritz Laub, ETH Zurich, Switzerland; Sophie Opfergelt, Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Belgium; Marijn Van de Broek and Sarah van den Broek, ETH Zurich, Switzerland; and Sophie F. von Fromm, ETH Zurich, Switzerland and Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Germany;
6.Benefits and trade-offs of soil organic carbon sequestration: C. Rumpel, CNRS, Sorbonne University, Institute for Ecology and Environmental Sciences Paris, France; B. Henry, Queensland University of Technology, Australia; C. Chenu, AgroParisTech, UMR Ecosys INRA, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, France; and F. Amiraslani, Ulster University, UK;
7.Soil inorganic carbon: stocks, functions, losses and their consequences: Kazem Zamanian, University of Hannover, Germany and Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST), China; and Yakov Kuzyakov, University of Göttingen, Germany and RUDN University, Russia;
8.Soil organic carbon sequestration and climate change: M. Sanaullah and T. Afzal, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan; T. Shahzad, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan; and A. Wakeel, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan;
9.Innovative agriculture management to foster soil organic carbon sequestration: María de la Luz Mora, Jorge Medina, Patricia Poblete-Grant, Rolando Demanet, Paola Durán, Patricio Barra, Cecilia Paredes and Marcela Calabi-Floody, Universidad de La Frontera, Chile;

Part 2 Measuring carbon sequestration in soils10.Measuring and monitoring soil carbon sequestration: Matthias Kuhnert, Sylvia H. Vetter and Pete Smith, Institute of Biological & Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, UK;
11.Advances in measuring soil organic carbon stocks and dynamics at the profile scale: Christopher Poeplau, Thünen Institute of Climate-Smart Agriculture, Germany; and Edward Gregorich, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada;
12.Advances in digital soil mapping to assess baseline levels and carbon sequestration at the landscape scale: Amin Sharififar, University of Tehran, Iran; and Budiman Minasny, The University of Sydney, Australia;
13.Modeling soil organic carbon dynamics, carbon sequestration and the climate benefit of sequestration: Carlos A. Sierra, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Germany and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden; and Susan E. Crow, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, USA;
14.Digital tools for assessing soil organic carbon at farm and regional scale: M. J. Aitkenhead, The James Hutton Institute, UK;

Part 3 Fostering carbon sequestration in soils
15.Promoting carbon sequestration in soils: the importance of soil, region and context-specific interventions: Rattan Lal, CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration, The Ohio State University, USA;
16.Agriculture practices to improve soil carbon storage in upland soil: Thomas Kätterer and Martin A. Bolinder, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Sweden;
17.Agricultural practices to improve soil carbon sequestration in rice paddy soils: Hyeon Ji Song and Pil Joo Kim, Gyeongsang National University, South Korea;
18.Managing grasslands to optimize soil carbon sequestration: A. Chabbi, Institute National de Recherche Agronomique et Environnement (INRAE) – Unité de Recherche Pluridisciplinaire Prairies et Plantes Fourragères (UR P3F), France; C. Rumpel, CNRS, Sorbonne University, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences Paris, France; K. Klumpp, INRAE – VetAgro Sup, UMR 874 Ecosystème Prairial, France; and A. J. Franzluebbers, USDA-ARS, USA;
19.Optimizing forest management for soil carbon sequestration: Andreas Schindlbacher, Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape (BFW), Austria; Mathias Mayer, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Switzerland and University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Austria; Robert Jandl, Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape (BFW), Austria; and Stephan Zimmermann and Frank Hagedorn, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Switzerland;
20.The contribution of agroforestry systems to improving soil carbon sequestration: Lydie-Stella Koutika, Research Centre on the Durability and the Productivity of Industrial Plantations (CRDPI), Republic of the Congo; Nicolas Marron, UMR 1434 Silva, INRAE Grand-Est Nancy, Université de Lorraine, AgroParisTech 54000 Nancy, France; and Rémi Cardinael, AIDA, University of Montpellier, CIRAD, Montpellier, France, CIRAD, UPR AIDA, Harare and University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe;
21.Management of organic soils to reduce soil organic carbon losses: Sonja Paul and Jens Leifeld, Agroscope, Switzerland;
22.Fostering carbon sequestration in humid tropical and subtropical soils: Deborah Pinheiro Dick and Cimélio Bayer, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; and Jeferson Dieckow, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil;
23.Management of carbonate-rich soils and trade-offs with soil inorganic carbon cycling: Iñigo Virto, Isabel de Soto and Rodrigo Antón, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Spain; and Rosa M. Poch, Universitat de Lleida, Spain;
24.Management of soil carbon sequestration in urban areas: C. Rumpel, CNRS, Sorbonne University, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences Paris, France; F. Amiraslani, Ulster University, UK; J.-C. Lata, Sorbonne University, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences Paris, France; C. Marques-dos-Santos Cordovil, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal; E. Nartey, University of Ghana, Ghana; C. Staudhammer, The University of Alabama, USA; and E. Yeboah, CSIR – Soil Research Institute, Ghana;

Part 4 Socioeconomic, legal and policy issues
25.Soil organic carbon on the political agenda: Luca Montanarella, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Italy;
26.Creating frameworks to foster soil carbon sequestration: Beverley Henry, Queensland University of Technology, Australia; Ram Dalal, The University of Queensland, Australia; Matthew Tom Harrison, University of Tasmania, Australia; and Brian Keating, The University of Queensland, Australia;
27.Economic considerations for the development of a carbon farming scheme: Siân Mooney and Kathryn Janoski, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, USA;
28.Understanding the value of and reasoning behind farmer adoption of carbon centric practices: Michelle M. Wander and Carmen M. Ugarte, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA;
29.Legal issues of implementing soil organic carbon sequestration as negative emission technology: Alexandra Langlais-Hesse, CNRS-Université de Rennes, France;

About the Author

Dr Cornelia Rumpel is Director of Research in the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences at the French National Research Center (CNRS) located at Sorbonne University, where she leads a team investigating the fate of organic matter in natural and managed terrestrial ecosystems, including the mechanisms determining soil organic carbon sequestration. Her work deals with temperate and tropical environments and has contributed to the change of several paradigms in this important area. She is also working with industry and at the science policy interphase providing expertise in the areas of land management and climate change.

Dr Matthias Kuhnert is an environmental modeller, with a wide range of experience in using data from different scales. His recent focus was on simulations of greenhouse gas emissions and soil organic carbon changes in croplands, impacts of data aggregation on model results and the development of measuring, reporting and verification systems for soil organic carbon. Dr. Alan Franzluebbers is a Research Ecologist with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh NC. He has more than 30 years of research experience starting with a master’s program in Nebraska, PhD in Texas, post-doctoral position in Alberta Canada, and as a full-time soil scientist in Georgia and now in North Carolina. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the American Forage and Grassland Council and served in the past on the Board of Directors for the Soil Science Society of America. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America. Lydie-Stella Koutika is a soil scientist working at Research Centre on Productivity and Sustainability of Industrial Plantations (CRDPI) at Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo. She is a member of Scientific and Technical Committee (STC) of the ‘4 per 1000’ “Soils for food security and climate Initiative” since 2016. She is a laureate of ‘African Union Kwame Nkrumah Regional Scientific Award for Women’ (2014) and The World Academy of Science (TWAS) -Al-Kharafi Prize (2018). She has published >45 peer-reviewed journal papers and some book chapters. Dr Iñigo Virto is an Assistant Professor at the Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), Spain. He teaches in the field of Soil Science, Earth Sciences and Environmental Sciences at UPNA, and teaches MA courses at Universitat de Lleida, Spain and at AgroParisTech and AgroCampus Ouest (France). Dr Virto is Associate Editor of the Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science and serves as Deputy Head for Internationalization at the College of Agricultural Engineering and Biosciences. Siân Mooney is the fifth dean of the Indiana University Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Her research interests lie in questions related to the use of natural resources and the environment. She is an economist that has worked for many years on topics related to water use in the western United States, endangered species and the impacts of climate change, and producer incentives to engage in soil carbon sequestration. She is also interested in the incentives that scientists face to address complex problems as part of multidisciplinary teams and the role of science information in decision-making. Dr Alexandra Langlais is a member of several scientific research networks, including the International Academy of Environmental law, as well as the French Society of Environmental Law in which she is President of the Western section. Dr Langlais has also been involved in several national and European research programmes, such as Agriconnect, Alterphyto and Normasoil.