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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CIRCASA (Coordination of International Research Cooperation on soil CArbon Sequestration in Agriculture)

Teaser

Summary

The 2030 Agenda for sustainable development increases the demand on soils to provide food, water and energy security, protect biodiversity, and mitigate climate change, increasing the centrality of soils in global environmental and development policies. Most directly, soil carbon management is a key issue for climate mitigation and adaptation and for coping with increased demands on food production. Improved efforts for SOC management are central for achieving several SDGs, and they play an important role in meeting the objectives of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as well as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). These different but related foci create potentially synergistic drivers to advance SOC sequestration action and research. It is therefore urgent to strengthen the international research community on this issue and to favour a better alignment of research on agricultural soil carbon sequestration.

In this context, overarching goal of CIRCASA (Coordination of International Research Cooperation on soil CArbon Sequestration in Agriculture) is to develop international synergies concerning research and knowledge exchange in the field of carbon sequestration in agricultural soils at European Union and global levels, targeting four highly complementary objectives:
1. Strengthen the international research community on agricultural soil carbon sequestration;
2. Provide an improved understanding of agricultural soil carbon sequestration and its potential for climate change mitigation and adaptation and for demands of increased food production;
3. Synthesizing stakeholderâ€™s views and knowledge needs on agricultural soil carbon sequestration and climate change;
4. Favour a more structured approach, by preparing an International Research Consortium (IRC).
By bringing together the research community, governments, research agencies, international, national and regional institutions and private stakeholders, CIRCASA takes stock of the current understanding of carbon sequestration in agricultural soils, identifies stakeholders\' knowledge needs, and fosters the creation of new knowledge.

Work performed

From the beginning of the project, CIRCASA has been taking stock of current research and knowledge expertise. The first stock-take of research networks has been completed. It has focused on scientific literature on carbon sequestration in agricultural soils in relation to climate change establishing how science networks are delivering on four themes (processes, monitoring, management and barriers in implementation) and how the scientific networks serve or connect to Farmers, Policy makers and Private sector. The stocktake also included analysis to see which countries are active in networks and which countries work together. The results show that the research related to management and processes is well covered. Building on the projects identified, a review of the scientific and technical evidence has been conducted to draft the science base of the project, also assessing needs for knowledge synthesis activities. The main scientific challenges to maintaining and enhancing agricultural soil carbon content have been explored from a literature review and evaluated through a questionnaire to researchers. To address those intellectual, logistical, and technical challenges to implementing the best land management practices for soil carbon sequestration in agriculture, CIRCASA is presenting testable hypotheses and key research (and innovation) products which serve as science base of a strategic research agenda.

Further, the stock-take indicates that the theme â€œBarriers and adoption in implementationâ€ is least studied and across target stakeholder groups, the orientation towards policymakers is low. Streamlining research collaboration and informing policies on soils for SOC sequestration requires common understanding by stakeholders of the current status of soils and the options for enhanced carbon storage. Thus, a mixed approach was applied to identify stakeholderâ€™s views combining quantitative and qualitative data gathering. Regional/national stakeholder hubs have been coordinated by partners to engage stakeholders to ensure that the range of different perspectives and needs are captured. The stakeholder engagement included workshops and an online survey distributed globally to a diverse group of stakeholders. In conclusion, based on the quantitative survey results complemented with open-ended stakeholder feedback from the surveys and workshops, there seems to be a consensus that economic constraints (financial incentives and/or risks) are the most important barrier for implementation of SOC sequestration.

Current knowledge on agricultural soil carbon is being structured by knowledge synthesis activities combining data (e.g. meta-analysis of scientific literature), integrating modelling results, developing methodological guidelines (e.g. on MRV changes in agricultural SOC stocks). These activities are leading to an enhanced International Knowledge System (KIS) delivering improved scientific resources of both global and local significance (e.g. maps showing the technical potential for SOC sequestration of diverse agricultural practices). The KIS will be set up through the CIRCASA Online Cooperative Platform (OCP) which serves as structured knowledge repository as well as an international exchange forum for researchers and all stakeholders that have expertise to share to usefully complement and collaboratively validate the available knowledge.

We invite you to discover the OCP by creating your profile : https://www.ocp.circasa-project.eu

Final results

The societal debate on SOC management spans multiple policy areas and a wide range of stakeholders with different, and in part converging, agendas. The aim of CIRCASA is to go beyond the state of the art, by:
a. Bringing together scientific networks (long-term experiments, soil profile databases, and international modelling studies) to:
- bring consensus among the international community on the science base of a common Strategic Research Agenda,
- develop cooperative knowledge synthesis activities and to develop a common knowledge information system.
b. Taking stock of the perspectives of diverse stakeholders from different geographic and policy areas. Stakeholders views on the role of SOC for climate mitigation, adaptation and SDGs are of great importance and a key objective of CIRCASA.

The OCP serves as structured knowledge repository as well as an international exchange forum for researchers and all stakeholders that have expertise to share to usefully complement and collaboratively validate the available knowledge. This includes the sharing of information, data, and knowledge openly accessible. The projectâ€™s communication and outreach activities ensure proper dissemination of CIRCASA outcomes to the wide community of interest and will activate synergies and avoid duplication of efforts. CIRCASA is a unique opportunity to work with international initiatives like the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI) , the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) and 4 per 1000, as well as with international partners to build on this expertise and align research on SOC sequestration in agriculture inside and outside of the EU research landscape.