Identification of some significant operators. The establishment of a real-time observatory for SH and SOC.Objective E2 - Soil Health Observatory
Label Title Description Soil Health Observatory Enable near real-time monitoring of Soil Health (SH) and Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) SH and SOC are monitored in near real-time at global, regional, and national levels. Targets E2 - Soil Health Observatory
Baseline 2020 Target 2030 Target 2050 Real-time SH & SOC observatory is operational at global, regional, and sub-regional levels.
Context E2 - Soil Health Observatory
Problem E2 - Soil Health Observatory
Problem Statement | Description | Consequences |
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SH and SOC assessments at national and regional levels are not always available. | There is no publicly accessible, independent, up-to-date, and sufficiently detailed SH and SOC information system that enables improved planning, implementation, and evaluation of global, regional, and national climate and food security interventions. | There is insufficient awareness of the importance of SH and SOC for climate and food security and the urgency with which the issue needs to be addressed. Poor assessment of risks, needs, and potentials leads to poor decision-making and targeting of interventions and, thus, to a waste of invested resources. Poor assessment of SOC status and development hinders accountability, a prerequisite for the widespread adoption of carbon sequestration and soil eco-service compensation schemes. |
Causes E2 - Soil Health Observatory
N° | Cause | Description |
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1 | Lack of recognition | The role of soil, its enormous importance as a carbon sink or emission source, and the concept of SH are not yet fully recognized. |
2 | No agreement on indicators | The selection of parameters that best reflect SH varies by soil, climate, and management. It is difficult or inefficient to work with universal indicators, so the development of regional indicators will be necessary. |
3 | No agreement on standards | The measurement methods for SOC and SH assessment are not harmonized. Heterogeneous methods sometimes make the results non-comparable. |
4 | Lack of funding | Soil monitoring systems are not a high priority, and operators usually have to compete for inadequate funding with other areas of soil and agricultural research. |
5 | Lack of soil data | Often, national authorities do not have data on SH and SOC or do not share it with other stakeholders. |
6 | Complexity | Modeling soil processes and conditions are highly complex due to their high spatial variability, and it's not trivial to find a good balance between a manageable number of parameters and an acceptable accuracy to retrieve indicators and depict trends. |
7 | Fragmentation and competition | Fragmentation and competition between service providers remain a problem. |
8 | Lack of a universal SH concept | The concept of SH is new and complex, and there is still a lack of agreement regarding the whole concept. |
9 | Cost of data collection | Monitoring SOC changes at the plot level are costly, and changes can only be expected after 5 to 10 years. So far, the possibilities of remote sensing and other low-cost solutions are still in their infancy. |
10 | Lack of competence | Lack of skills and competencies at all stages and levels remains an issue. |
Implementation strategy E2 - Soil Health Observatory
Activities E2 - Soil Health Observatory
N° | Activity | Description |
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1 | Assess needs | Clarify the expectations of stakeholders and target groups, design corresponding information products and services, and define a time frame. |
2 | Assess technical options and gaps | Develop a list of existing technologies and systems that can be part of the solution and assess their performance. Evaluate and prioritize gaps at all levels of the systems. |
3 | Build a team | Identify and organize a team of experts who have the required skills and can help to build a global system. |
4 | Define system requirements | Define the criteria for building a global database of context-dependent reference values, i.e., measured indicators on SH and SOC and corresponding clusters of pedo-climatic contexts. Outline the system architecture and develop governance modalities for its operation to reach an inclusive and realistic solution that considers limitations in terms of technologies, data, competencies, and the enabling environment. |
5 | Develop a business model | Develop a business model and mobilize financial, political, and in-kind support for systems development and the enabling environment. |
6 | Implement the observatory | Enable collaborative and agile systems development. |
Critical Success Factors (CSFs) E2 - Soil Health Observatory
N° | Critical Success Factor | Description |
---|---|---|
1 | Recognition of the concept of SH | The central importance of the health of soils, the origin of all life on earth, must be recognized. Healthy soils are essential for sustainable agriculture, healthy food, regulation of the ecosystem, and in particular the gas balance of the atmosphere. A common understanding of the concept of SH has to be reached. |
2 | Agreed minimal data set | Agreement on key SH and SOC indicators is critical. It should be minimal but comprehensive enough to generate clear and accurate information regarding SH and carbon dynamics. |
3 | Cope with a diversity of methods | The results of different methods of soil carbon analysis must be comparable or at least translatable. The standard protocols are wet methods (cheaper and producing toxic waste), loss on ignition (cheap but inaccurate), and elemental analysis (more expensive but with accurate results). |
4 | Impartial support | Adequate impartial support and governance of the observatory are required. The governments of each country must provide the human and financial resources to contribute to the global soil observatory. |
5 | Data availability | Unrestricted, public access to high-quality soil data at local, regional, and national levels is required for evidence-based communication. |
6 | Agile development | An agile approach to development that addresses complexity starts simple, can adapt to changing conditions, clearly communicates its limitations, and enables continuous learning through interaction with users and researchers. |
7 | Collaboration and inclusion | Service providers at different levels need to work together to enable synergy and complementarity. It is essential to work with a reduced number of scientific experts and members of the governments of each member country to ensure that the objectives can be achieved. |
8 | Affordability | The solution must have a low-cost approach to data gathering, processing, and diffusion of information. Innovative SOC measurement technologies (NIRS/MIRS/LIBS, etc.) must be tested and inter-compared, and their cost should be assessed. |
9 | Capacity development | Develop competencies at all levels and stages of the system, from data acquisition to the interpretation of results. |
Barriers E2 - Soil Health Observatory
N° | Barrier | Description |
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1 | Diversity of methods | There are several methods for determining soil organic carbon, and each has its advantages and limitations. The comparability of observations from different methods remains poor. |
2 | Lack of funds | Funding needs to be allocated to soil-related climate mitigation strategies. |
3 | Data scarcity | It will take time to produce high-quality data on soils globally and at time intervals that allow for the detection of changes in SOC. |
4 | Fragmentation and competition | A harmonized reporting of data will take time and resources to be established. |
5 | Research for research's sake | Researchers will research because there is a gap in the research but do not address pressing issues on the ground. |
6 | Uncertainty of observations | Due to the high spatial variability, the determination of soil properties is still subject to significant uncertainties. |
7 | Excessive bureaucracy | National researchers have reported carbon stocks that often fail to connect landowners and carbon markets. |