U.N. Report Links Soil Degradation To Climate Change

This story is part of “Covering Climate Now,” a week-long global initiative of over 250 news outlets.

The health of the Earth’s soil is crucial to storing carbon.

So what does it mean when scientists conclude the Earth’s soil is being lost 10 to 100 times faster than it is forming?

“It’s undermining our ability for long term sustainability, in a nutshell,” scientist Louis Verchot says.

He’s one of the scientists on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) who revealed the alarming rate at which soil is being lost.

Soil condition mediates many of the processes that affect the climate — from plant growth to carbon dioxide intake. He says soil stores about twice as much carbon as the atmosphere.

Mismanagement of land and the effects of climate change — including mega droughts or massive floods — “significantly limits the ability to rebuild”