Global Status on Black Soils

Why in News?

• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has recently marked World Soil Day 2022 (5th December) with the launch of its first Global Status on Black Soils, which are at greater risk than ever due to the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and land use change.

Highlights

• The ability of the soils to remove carbon from the atmosphere and lock it up in soil organic matter (called carbon sequestration) has been proposed as an important solution to mitigate human-induced climate change.
• The Inherent fertility of the soils makes them the food basket for many countries and are considered essential to the global food supply.
• Black soils have the potential to provide 10% of the total Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) sequestration globally if they receive proper attention.
• Europe and Eurasia have the highest potential at over 65% and Latin America and the Caribbean at around 10%.
• Black soils were home to 2.86% of the global population and had 17.36% of cropland, 8.05% of global SOC stock and 30.06% SOC stock of global cropland.
• However, despite representing a small portion of the world’s soils, black soils were key for food security and the global economy.
• Globally in 2010, 66% of sunflower seeds, 51% of small millet, 42% of sugar beet, 30% of wheat and 26% of potatoes were harvested from black soils.
• Black soils are quickly losing their SOC stocks. They have lost 20 to 50% of their original SOC stock, with the carbon being released into the atmosphere mostly as carbon dioxide, exacerbating global warming.
• Land-use change, unsustainable management practices and excessive use of agrochemicals are to blame.
• Most of the black soils suffered from moderate to severe erosion processes, as well as nutrient imbalances, acidification and biodiversity loss.
• Smallholder farmers, particularly from vulnerable countries across Africa, Latin America and Asia, lack access to organic and inorganic fertilizers and are currently facing a 300% increase in fertilizer prices.
• Today, reduced availability and soaring fertilizer prices are driving increased food prices and food insecurity
• Preserving natural vegetation on black soils such as grasslands, forests and wetlands and adopting sustainable soil management approaches on cropped black soils are needed.
• There is a need to work together to produce safe, nutritious and micronutrient-rich food in a sustainable way that avoids soil degradation, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and decreases agrifood systems pollution.”