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Achieving SOC Conservation without Land-Use Changes between Agriculture and Forests

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  • Hari Prasad Pandey

    (Toowoomba Campus, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia
    Department of Forests and Soil Conservation, Babarmahal, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal)

  • Tek Narayan Maraseni

    (Toowoomba Campus, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia
    Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China)

  • Armando Apan

    (Toowoomba Campus, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia
    Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines)

  • Shreejana Bhusal

    (Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Babarmahal, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal)

Abstract

Global land-use changes impact soil’s ability to perform essential functions. This study investigates whether soil organic carbon (SOC) can be conserved without altering land use in traditional farming systems and degraded natural forests, focusing on ‘disturbed’ agricultural soils and ‘undisturbed’ forest soils. We also examine the influence of dominant crops on SOC within the top 30 cm of soil in data-deficient regions of Nepal. Using a multi-stage cluster sampling design, we tested 12 regression models to identify the best relationships among variables such as SOC, soil bulk density (BD), pH, dominant crops, climate, topography, and management practices. Our analysis revealed similar SOC levels in both disturbed and undisturbed soils, indicating significant degradation in forested areas, whereas traditional farming systems could support SOC and preserve farm-based indigenous knowledge alongside food security. Further, SOC stocks varied significantly ( p < 0.05) across different cropping systems, suggesting that managing dominant crops could be a strategy to optimize SOC, with these crops serving as indicators. Additionally, our results show that the weak linear correlation between SOC and BD in regularly disturbed soils, such as farmlands, where anthropogenic activities frequently alter soil bulk density, may be misleading when estimating bulk density-dependent SOC. This finding suggests the need for further research into varying degrees of anthropogenic disturbance in soil to confirm these results. While the site-specific nature of the findings warrants caution with respect to generalization, they provide valuable insights for carbon monitoring, climate actions, ecosystem health, and land-use management in similar traditional farming systems and degraded forests, particularly in data-poor regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Hari Prasad Pandey & Tek Narayan Maraseni & Armando Apan & Shreejana Bhusal, 2024. "Achieving SOC Conservation without Land-Use Changes between Agriculture and Forests," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-19, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:16:p:7207-:d:1461399
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nuno Carvalhais & Matthias Forkel & Myroslava Khomik & Jessica Bellarby & Martin Jung & Mirco Migliavacca & Mingquan Μu & Sassan Saatchi & Maurizio Santoro & Martin Thurner & Ulrich Weber & Bernhard A, 2014. "Global covariation of carbon turnover times with climate in terrestrial ecosystems," Nature, Nature, vol. 514(7521), pages 213-217, October.
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