Basic Principles of Soil Carbon Management for Multiple Ecosystem Benefits - Soil Carbon: Science, Management and Policy for Multiple Benefits - page 265

22 Basic Principles of Soil
Carbon Management for Multiple
Ecosystem Benefits

Elke Noellemeyer* and Johan Six

Abstract
Management of soil organic matter (SOM) has traditionally focused on improving crop productivity
and hence been considered mainly as a source of plant nutrients. Recently, there has been an increasing
focus on SOM as a reservoir for carbon (C) and a mechanism of C sequestration, but far less emphasis
has been placed on managing the regulating, cultural and supporting ecosystem services.
Soils are living bodies, and their multiple ecosystem functions are intimately related to SOM
transformations and dynamics, which are mediated by soil biotic activity and soil structural dynamics.
Hence, soil management for multiple ecosystem services needs to focus on the link between SOM, soil
structure and soil biota, and the regulating factors for this link. Stable or even increased C stocks can
potentially be achieved by using zero, reduced or conservation tillage, which diminishes the fre-
quency and aggressiveness of ploughing and harrowing, thereby maintaining soil structure and soil
biota. On the other hand, organic residue input to soil must be increased in order to stabilize or en-
hance C stocks. This implies that crop stubbles should not be burnt and/or only minimally grazed, and
that pastures should not be overgrazed, leaving the maximum amount of above- and especially below-
ground plant material to be stabilized as SOM. These practices not only affect soil C stocks but also
will prevent soil losses caused by wind and water erosion and will improve soil water infiltration,
potentially avoiding flooding and runoff. In order to maintain these vital soil ecosystem functions, it
is necessary to restore soil structure and the associated soil biodiversity.
Multiple ecosystem services can be preserved by soil management that favours C sequestration
and biological activity. Most of the vital soil functions that sustain these ecosystem services are related
to soil structure, and C plays a central role in aggregate formation. Soil management recommendations
will vary according to the environmental, social and economic conditions of any region, but will also
have to be accompanied by political and economic actions that favour their implementation.

Introduction

Management of SOM has traditionally
focused on improving crop productivity.
Hence, SOM has been considered mainly as
a source of plant nutrients, and agricultural
practices were developed with the premise to
cycle, and hence more easily extract, nutrients

Carbon (C) is the most abundant element in soil
organic matter (SOM) and is the one whose pres-
ence or absence drives most biological, physical
and chemical processes that occur in the soil.