This presentation was presented during the 1 Parallel session on Theme 3.2, Managing SOC in: Grasslands and livestock production systems, of the Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon that took place in Rome 21-23 March 2017. The presentation was made by Mr. Aaron Simmons, from Orange Agricultural Institute – Australia, in FAO Hq, Rome

1. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes
LEAP Partnership – 1st
meeting of the Technical
Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes
Dr Aaron Simmons, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Australia

2. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes
An initiative to benchmark the
environmental performance of
livestock systems using life cycle
thinking

3. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes
Technical Advisory Group on Soil
Carbon Stock Changes
Scope
Develop guidelines for the estimation of changes in soil
organic carbon stocks in livestock systems to support
life cycle assessment of livestock systems
Purpose
To achieve the mitigation potential offered by carbon
sequestration in livestock production (and draw a more
complete picture of GHG sources and sinks)

4. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes
0.4 % increase in global soil organic carbon
levels can halt the annual increase in
atmospheric CO2

5. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes
- Rangelands (Grasslands, Savannas, Shrublands,
Woodlands, Wetlands and Tundra)
- Pastures
- Forage and fodder crops
- Crop residues
Applicable livestock systems

6. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes
Key challenges
Scale
Spatial
variability
Data
quality
Uncertainty
Minimum
detectable
change
Rigour of
assessment of
livestock
systems

7. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes
Tiered approach
Tier 1
(e.g. IPCC)
Tier 2
(e.g. RothC)
Tier3
(e.g. DAYCENT)
Most appropriate determined by
Data availability/quality
Resource availability
Expected/observed spatial
variability
Minimum detectable change and
timeframes
Specific information requirements
(e.g. 0 – 30 cm for international
GHG reporting requirements)

8. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes
Three workstreams
Baselining SOC stocks
Role of modelling in SOC
estimations
Estimation of SOC stock
changes
Cross-cutting
issues
Applicability to scale
Uncertainty and error
Specificity
(climate/soil/
production system)
Standarized database of
SOC stocks

9. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes
Workstream 1 - Baselining SOC stocks
Sources of uncertainty
•Sampling/Spatial
variability/Depth/Temporal variability
Carbon determination
•Laboratory methods/Stock
estimation/Equivalent soil mass
Geostatistical analysis
Integration into flow chart to aid
implementation

10. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes
Workstream 2 - Modelling SOC
Decision matrix to guide choice of
modelling approach
•Scale, purpose, data availability/quality,
system
Initialisation process
Validation

11. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes
Workstream 3 - Estimating SOC stock changes
Overlap 1 + 2
Decision tree to guide users
•Purpose, resources relevant to baselining,
minimum detectable change, spatial
variability
Focus on end users
•Life cycle assessment practitioners, need to
collect additional information (system
input/output changes)

12. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes

13. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes

14. 1st
Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Soil Carbon Stock Changes
Next steps
Workstreams
draft text
Face-to-face July
2017
External review
Report
submission
Public review
and revision
Release of final
report