Supporting international cooperation activities on agriculture soil contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation

Proposals should cover the topic of soil carbon sequestration and its links with climate change mitigation from the perspective of agricultural sector. Other areas to be tackled should include land (use) management within the scope of this topic. Participation of initiatives such as the Global Research Alliance (GRA), the Joint Programming Initiative on Sustainable Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE) or the 4 per 1000 initiative is encouraged.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of up to EUR 2.5 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude the submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Climate change is among one of the threats for the future capacity of agriculture to cope with increased demands on food production. This challenge can be addressed, among other options, by changes in land and soil management at the farm level. There is a strong direct link between the soil management and a significant contribution of agriculture sector to climate change mitigation and adaptation (i.e. outcome of the COP21, 4 per 1000 initiative, links to SDGs). There is a strong need to develop synergies on research in this area at EU and global level. The results of this activity should contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation debate and consider the ongoing work on Sustainable Development Goals implementation.

• Improved understanding of agricultural soil carbon sequestration in different pedo-climatic conditions.
• International Research Community on agricultural soil strengthened
• Provide the basis for a more structured approach towards the issue, for instance with the establishment of on International Research Consortium (IRC).