ORCID
- Claire Kelly: 0000-0002-3809-225X
- David Gilvear: 0000-0003-3859-8290
- William Blake: 0000-0001-9447-1361
Abstract
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is widely recognised as pivotal in soil function, exerting im-portant controls on soil structure, moisture retention, nutrient cycling and biodiversity, which in turn underpins a range of provisioning, supporting and regulatory ecosystem services. SOC stocks in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) are threatened by changes in land practice and climatic factors, which destabilises the soil system and resilience to continued climate change. Here, we provide a review of the role of SOC in overall soil health and the challenges and opportunities associated with main-taining and building SOC stocks in SSA. As an exemplar national case, we focus on Tanzania where we provide context under research for the “Jali Ardhi” (Care for the Land) Project. The review de-tails (i) the role of SOC in soil systems; (ii) sustainable land management (SLM) techniques for main-taining and building SOC; (iii) barriers (environmental, economic and social) to SLM implementa-tion; and (iv) opportunities for overcoming barriers to SLM adoption. We provide evidence for the importance of site‐specific characterisation of the biophysicochemical and socio‐economic context for effective climate adaptation. In particular, we highlight the importance of SOC pools for soil function and the need for practitioners to consider the type of biomass returns to the soil to achieve healthy, balanced systems. In line with the need for local‐scale site characterisation we discuss the use of established survey protocols alongside opportunities to complement these with recent tech-nologies, such as rapid in situ scanning tools and aerial surveys. We discuss how these tools can be used to improve soil health assessments and develop critical understanding of landscape connectivity and the management of shared resources under co‐design strategies.
Publication Date
2021-10-02
Publication Title
Sustainability (Switzerland)
Volume
13
Issue
19
ISSN
2071-1050
Embargo Period
2021-11-05
Keywords
Interdisciplinary, Soil organic carbon, Sustainable land management, Systems thinking, Whole system
First Page
10966
Last Page
10966
Recommended Citation
Taylor, A., Wynants, M., Munishi, L., Kelly, C., Mtei, K., Mkilema, F., Ndakidemi, P., Nasseri, M., Kalnins, A., Patrick, A., Gilvear, D., & Blake, W. (2021) 'Building climate change adaptation and resilience through soil organic carbon restoration in sub‐saharan rural communities: Challenges and opportunities', Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(19), pp. 10966-10966. Available at: 10.3390/su131910966
