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Stocks of biomass / CStocks of biomass / Csoil organic mattersoil organic matter

Expert meeting on land use and Ecosystem accounting 18./19.05.2006

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outlineoutline

• Why organic matter• The accounting perspective• What we have and what we need• The soil perspective

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Why organic matterWhy organic matter

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Why organic matterWhy organic matter

• Climate change debate• Soil as a sink or source• Biomass as an indication for carbon

sequestration• For environment relevant to reduce

greenhouse gases• For economic sector relevant for

emission trading

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The accounting perspectiveThe accounting perspective

• Stocks• Stock change• Flows• Ecosystem functions• Ecosystem goods and services• Assessment of human activities which

influence the provided goods and services

• Political process

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What we have and what we needWhat we have and what we need

• Soil map in scale 1:1mio• Representative profiles for the main

soil types of Europe• Properties (without time dimension)• Accounting for GHG reporting

• Stocks and stock changes• And …….

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The soil perspective / specificsThe soil perspective / specifics

• Soil influence many processes• As the ‘basic’ medium often defined as

contributor to other processes• Processes slower than in other media (e.g.

flow velocity) => long time memory• Soil science has a history from agriculture• Soil surveys in the past are not targeted

to actual questions (e.g. sampling)

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Soil ?Soil ? Legend unit

ST A 70%

ST B 20 %

ST C 10%

Horizon description

Organic matter content from 8-12%

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Soil ?Soil ?

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Soil ?Soil ?

Soil sampling protocol to certify the change of organic carbon stock in mineral soils, JRC 2005

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Soil, what we haveSoil, what we have

Carbon losses from all soils across England and Wales1978-2003Pat H. Bellamy, Peter Loveland et all. (nature, 2005)

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Soil, what we haveSoil, what we have

Carbon losses from all soils across England and Wales1978-2003Pat H. Bellamy, Peter Loveland et all. (nature, 2005)

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Soil, what we haveSoil, what we have

Europe’s terrestrial biosphere absorbs 7 -1 12 % of European anthropogenic CO2 emissionsJanssens, Ivan et al. 2003: science 2003

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Soil, what we haveSoil, what we have

Land use, land-use change, and forestryGreenhouse Gas Inventory, Germany - 2005

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Soil, what we needSoil, what we need

• Maps: soil type, soil properties, soil functions

• Observation of concrete profiles• Problems of re-sampling after time• Representativness of samples

• Potentials (e.g. erodability) vs. stocks (organic matter)

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Perspective / open pointsPerspective / open points

• Clear definition of subsystems (medium and processes)

• Link between ecosystem as individuals and European picture

• Criteria for back linking of case studies to European picture

• Additional to using what we have we need intensive dialogue what we need in advance of research project

• Do we account the same for ecosystems and land use?

• New model or another round with better input