Ukraine

Carbon contents of Ukrainian steppe soils - survey, modelling, policy advice

Soils play an important role in combating climate change as sources and sinks of greenhouse gases (GHG). On the one hand, depending on management, humus can be heavily mineralised by land-use changes and in field cultivation, which is associated with the release of climate-damaging CO₂ and the reduction of soil fertility. On the other hand, the soil has an enormous potential to sequester carbon, e.g. in agriculture by means of targeted humus management. This also increases soil fertility. In the nationally determined contributions, the Parties to the Paris Convention of the UNFCCC, including Ukraine, commit themselves to formulate and update their national climate protection targets. Black earth, a widespread soil type of the Ukrainian steppes, is rich in humus and has a high soil fertility, but large areas have been degraded by decades of intensive agricultural use.