FAO promotes two solutions for sustainable soil management

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) presented a salinity map and another estimating the potential for capturing organic carbon as solutions for sustainable soil management.

These measures, which were announced along with other sustainable management projects, were presented at an event that took place within the framework of the celebration this next December 5 of the World Soil Day.

The global salinity map is aimed at identifying areas with high concentrations of salts, which limit the exchange of nutrients and impact agricultural productivity if they are present in excess, FAO explained in a statement.

“It is valuable information for countries to adopt initiatives that slow or moderate this damage, and move towards the management of more sustainable and resilient soils.“, said Ana Posas, Agriculture Officer of the FAO for Latin America and the Caribbean.

At the regional level, the map has information on Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and Venezuela.

In the world there are more than 833 million hectares of soils affected by salinity, 8.7% of the planet. In Latin America and the Caribbean there are more than 75 million hectares affected by high salinity, according to data from the United Nations agency.

As for the global estimation map of the potential for capturing organic carbon from soils, it graphs the rural areas with the greatest potential to capture and sequester CO2 in the soil.

According to the map, Latin America and the Caribbean have one of the highest carbon sequestration potentials, along with Asia and Africa.

The Latin American region could capture, on average, between 40 and 130 megatons of carbon in its soils per year, depending on the practices implemented.

This represents a mitigation of between 12% and 48% of annual greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to FAO data.

Currently, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela are already part of the global carbon sequestration map, and another nine countries in the region are in the process of joining.

During this Friday’s event, different regional and country projects for sustainable soil management were also highlighted.

Thus, the scope in the Caribbean of the SOILCARE initiative for soil care was addressed, which with money from the Global Environment Fund (GEF) for more than US $ 8 million and with US $ 24 million of co-financing seeks to avoid soil degradation and promote climate resilience with benefits for more than 5,000 people.

The work of the FAO in Costa Rica with the RECSOIL project, which seeks to increase soil organic carbon to obtain payments under the climate financing framework for environmental services.

The initiative aims to preserve ecosystem services, reducing emissions and preserving the general health of the soil, FAO explained.

The event to commemorate World Soil Day took place between this Thursday and Friday with the participation of more than 1,000 people and the presentations of high ministerial representatives, experts and academics from various Latin American countries.