The « 4 per 1000 » Initiative
3 years after COP 21, hopes and challenges
Paul LUU, Executive Secretary
Katowice – COP24
December 11th 2018

• To Contribute to food security & restore degraded soils
o Major role of soil organic matter in soil fertility
o Yields stability
o 30% world soils severely degraded (FAO - 2015)
Why storing C in soils?
• To Mitigate climate change
o Attenuate GHG emissions. OC can be stored in soils for
decades to millenia
o Low cost negative emission technology
• To Adapt to climate change
o Soil organic matter increases water retention capacity
by soils,
o decreases sensitivity to erosion

4/1000 : where does it come from?
An annual increase of 4 ‰ of the world soil surface C stocks (860*0.004)
would nearly compensate the annual CO2 increase of the atmosphere

Limits and feasability: practices
© FAO
© R.Cardinael
©agriculturedeconservation
© T. Chevallier
Rangeland management
Conservation
agriculture
Agroforestry
Water management
Integrated soil fertility
management
Organic
fertilization
Cover crops
Soil organic
carbon
CO 2
Annual 4 per 1000 increase locally attainable
Great variability of C storage rates (climate, soil..)
Limits : biomass availability, nutrients, water, soil…

Goals of the 4°/oo Initiative
Increase carbon sequestration in soils as organic
matter, for:
 increasing food security
 adapting agriculture to climatic changes
 mitigating climate change
Pursuing the objectives of sustainable development
adopted by the United Nations.

The 4°/oo Initiative
4 working axis organized in 2 parts
Action Plan
• A multi-stakeholder platform to facilitate
partnerships
• A tool to expertise and evaluate projects
based on a set of references and indicators
Scientific Program
• An international research and scientific
cooperation program
• A digital resources center on carbon in
soils

Governance of the initiative

Some Partners & Members in 2018
Members
Partners
Etc.

FORUM partners
357 signatories of the Paris Declaration
Including 42 countries and provinces,12 international
organizations, 14 foundations and development banks,
110 NGos, 79 research bodies & Universities, 40
Farmers organizations and 60 enterprises
Partners & Members (Dec. 2018)
CONSORTIUM Members
Already 183 signatories of the Declaration of
Intention n°2
Chair : Dr. Ibrahim MAYAKI (ES NEPAD)
Vice-Chair : Mr. Stephane LE FOLL
(ex - Min. Agriculture – France)

• Since COP 21, certitude that in addition to a drastic decrease
of GHG emissions in the atmosphere due to human activities,
the Paris objectives of +1,5°C (or event +2°C) will not be
reached without a large contribution of agriculture and
forestry.
• For 3 years, the “4 per 1000” Initiative promotes carbon
sequestration in soils for the triple objectives of increasing
food security, adapting agriculture and mitigate climate
change. It gathers today 357 partners among which 41
countries.
• The use of low-cost technology such as the photosynthesis
to be part of the global solution could bring hope to the
population while meaning a profound need for change in our
model of production and consumption.
Facts and hopes

Challenges
• But we are facing challenges at different levels:
– Increase the general awareness to act;
– Increase the involvement of decision makers to
develop appropriate policies, and adapt NDCs;
– Mobilize funds towards this common objective of
storing carbon in soils;
– Develop a strong support to farmers and foresters to
help them adapting their practices and covering their
risks;
– Develop a strong support to research for filling the
knowledge gaps and develop synergies by
strengthening scientific cooperation

Thank you for your attention….