Abstract

Soils are vital for supporting food security and other ecosystem services. Climate change can affect soil functions both directly and indirectly. Direct effects include temperature, precipitation, and moisture regime changes. Indirect effects include those that are induced by adaptations such as irrigation, crop rotation changes, and tillage practices. Although extensive knowledge is available on the direct effects, an understanding of the indirect effects of agricultural adaptation options is less complete. A review of 20 agricultural adaptation case‐studies across Europe was conducted to assess implications to soil threats and soil functions and the link to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The major findings are as follows: (a) adaptation options reflect local conditions; (b) reduced soil erosion threats and increased soil organic carbon are expected, although compaction may increase in some areas; (c) most adaptation options are anticipated to improve the soil functions of food and biomass production, soil organic carbon storage, and storing, filtering, transforming, and recycling capacities, whereas possible implications for soil biodiversity are largely unknown; and (d) the linkage between soil functions and the SDGs implies improvements to SDG 2 (achieving food security and promoting sustainable agriculture) and SDG 13 (taking action on climate change), whereas the relationship to SDG 15 (using terrestrial ecosystems sustainably) is largely unknown. The conclusion is drawn that agricultural adaptation options, even when focused on increasing yields, have the potential to outweigh the negative direct effects of climate change on soil degradation in many European regions.

Highlights

  • Soil systems are fundamental to sustainable development due to their multifunctional role in providing services including biomass production; habitats for living organisms and gene pools; cleaning of water and air; mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions; contributions to carbon (C) sequestration; buffering of precipitation extremes; and provisions to cultural, recreational, and human health assets (Coyle, Creamer, Schulte, O'Sullivan, & Jordan, 2016; Montanarella, 2015; Tóth et al, 2013)

  • The direct effects include soil process changes in organic carbon transformations and nutrient cycling through altered moisture and T regimes in the soil or increased soil erosion rates due to an increased frequency of high‐intensity rainfall events

  • The results further show that little knowledge or awareness is currently available among agricultural researchers regarding the influence of climate change and adaptation on soil biodiversity, the decline in soil biodiversity has been reported as the key future threat (McBratney, Field, & Koch, 2014)

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Summary

| INTRODUCTION

Soil systems are fundamental to sustainable development due to their multifunctional role in providing services including biomass production (food, feed, fibre, and fuel); habitats for living organisms and gene pools (biodiversity); cleaning of water and air; mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions; contributions to carbon (C) sequestration; buffering of precipitation extremes; and provisions to cultural, recreational, and human health assets (Coyle, Creamer, Schulte, O'Sullivan, & Jordan, 2016; Montanarella, 2015; Tóth et al, 2013). The effects of climate change are associated with increases in temperature (T) and extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall, droughts, frosts, storms, and rising sea levels in coastal areas These effects may increase the threats to soil such as soil erosion, soil compaction, reduced soil fertility, and lowered agricultural productivity, which deteriorate food security and environmental sustainability (Lal et al, 2011). The objective of this paper was to review case‐studies on future adaptation options in European regions for their information on how adaptations may affect soil functions and what that means in the context of the SDGs. Taking current climate systems and management practices as counterfactuals, the cases were used to assess how future climate change in combination with adaptation options may impact European soils. MACSUR brought together researchers across Europe to improve the understanding of climate change impacts and adaptation potentials on European agriculture

| MATERIALS AND METHODS
Findings
| SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
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