Dados do Trabalho

Título

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF POTENTIAL SOIL CARBON SEQUESTRATION IN BRAZILIAN PASTURELANDS

Resumo

The restoration of degraded pastures in Brazil is a milestone of environmental compliance and one of the key commitments of the country to abate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the scope of the Paris Agreement. However, it may not be the best alternative for reducing GHG emissions since other forms of cattle ranching management may lead to both better financial revenue and smaller net carbon emissions. Additionally, it has been stated that as long as the national herd increases, GHG emissions will continue rising. Nevertheless, the potential of the country’s soil to sequester and store carbon has not yet been fully explored. Consequently, this work aimed to generate a first approach by projecting the geographic distribution of the theoretical capacity of soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration associated with Brazil’s target of pasture restoration. We used output (10 km spatial resolution) from Sandeman et al.´s (2017) model of “SOC debt” derived from conversion of native vegetation to agriculture, to focus on the current distribution of Brazilian pasturelands and biomes. SOC sequestration hotspots, associated with SOC losses higher than 10% in the 0 – 100 cm soil layer were identified in pastures across all biomes, with the largest patches in the Northeast region: Mata Atlântica’ and ‘Amazônia’ biomes. Moving from theoretical to attainable SOC sequestration, at finer scales, should include modeling of distinct management practices, of animals, grasses, and soil properties, which can lead to substantially different carbon inputs and stocks in the soil.

Palavras-chave

soil carbon storage; spatial modeling; greenhouse gas emissions.

Instituição financiadora

FAPESP - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (Proc. No. 2022/09821-6) and Shell.