CGIAR publish information on improving Soil Organic Carbon accounting

CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) have through their research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) have published information on improving Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) accounting methods.

Published in November 2020, the Info Note titled “How soil carbon accounting can improve to support investment-oriented actions promoting soil carbon storage” aimed to provide a framework for a standardised, low-cost, fit-for-purpose approach to SOC accounting. By creating a common and transparent, and accurate framework for measuring SOC stocks, and therefore a reliable measurement for soil health, the research by CCAFS aimed to encourage investment in SOC projects.

A conclusion of the information note is that key requirements for SOC accounting include:

• focusing on a few high-quality direct measurements (as opposed to multiple low-quality measurements)
• reducing the uncertainty of models and,
• enhancing capability to easily incorporate farm-level activity data.

The information note can be read in full here.