Changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) over the period 2001-2015 in rangelands

This map shows another indicator used in calculating LDN being SOC (soil organic carbon). SOC is the amount of carbon stored in soil and is the main component of soil organic matter. Changes in SOC at global level are particularly difficult to assess. In this map a combined land cover/SOC method is used to estimate changes in SOC and identify potentially degraded areas. In the interpretation of the map it should be remembered that analysis at this scale fails to take into account local level changes.

Key facts

1. Across rangelands globally, according to LDN measurements between 2001-2015 soil organic carbon in 93% of rangelands (approximately 74,000,000 km2) was stable. Soil organic carbon levels were improving in 0.55% (435,350 km2) and degrading in 0.43% (343,570 km2) of rangelands.

Changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) over the period 2001-2015 in rangelands
Legend

Statistics

No

SOC status

Area km2

1

Degradation

435,350

2

Stable

73,658,824

3

Improvement

343,570

 

Total 

74,437,744

 

Sources

Source 1: Terrestial ecoregions of the World. World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Downloaded in 2021: https://globil-panda.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/terrestrial-ecoregion…. Original source: Olson, D. M., Dinerstein, E., Wikramanayake, E. D., Burgess, N. D., Powell, G. V. N., Underwood, E. C., D'Amico, J. A., Itoua, I., Strand, H. E., Morrison, J. C., Loucks, C. J., Allnutt, T. F., Ricketts, T. H., Kura, Y., Lamoreux, J. F., Wettengel, W. W., Hedao, P., Kassem, K. R. 2001. Terrestrial ecoregions of the world: a new map of life on Earth. Bioscience 51(11):933-938.

Source 2:Gonzalez-Roglich, M., Zvoleff, A., Noon, M., Liniger, H., Fleiner, R., Harari, N., Garcia, C., 2019. Synergizing global tools to monitor progress towards land degradation neutrality: Trends.Earth and the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies sustainable land management database. Environ. Sci. Policy 93, 34–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2018.12.019.

Downloaded in 2021 http://trends.earth/