ABSTRACT
Parties electing to include cropland management, grazing land management and re-vegetation need to account for changes in these soil carbon sinks and sources on a net–net basis. Carbon sequestration in cropland soils, or even a reduction in a flux to the atmosphere compared with the baseline year, can therefore be used by a Party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in helping to meet emission reduction targets. Croplands are estimated to be the largest biospheric source of carbon lost to the atmosphere in Europe each year, but the cropland estimate is the most uncertain among all land-use types. There is significant potential within Europe to decrease the flux of carbon to the atmosphere from cropland, and for cropland management to sequester soil carbon, relative to the amount of carbon stored in cropland soils. Soil carbon sinks resulting from sequestration activities are not permanent and will continue only for as long as a carbon-sequestering management practice is maintained.
