Soil carbon a key part of climate change.
            The top metre of the world's soil contains more than three times the carbon that is stored in the atmosphere. This carbon bank holds the future to global environment sustainability and could play an increasingly significant role in future climate change discussions and carbon trading.
            The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in its Year Book 2012 released recently, has stated that the health of soil organic carbon (SOC), in addition to stabilising the environment, can also help increase agricultural productivity. With UNEP highlighting the topic for its year book, the role of SOC is likely to become more prominent in the international climate change negotiations.
           he UNEP report notes that since the 19th Century 60 per cent of the world's SOC was lost due to changes in land use. In the last 25 years, one quarter of the global land area has suffered a decline in productivity and ability to provide ecosystem services due to SOC loss.
Present-day conventional agriculture can erode soil a hundred times faster than the rate in which the natural formation takes place. Similarly, draining the carbon-rich peatlands in the floor of tropical forests, can make them disappear 20 times faster than they are formed.
Increasing temperatures
          Climate change is expected to impact SOC dynamics. Though rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels could increase biomass production and thereby add more carbon to the soil, increasing temperatures could reduce SOC by increasing microbial decomposition and oxidation of organic matter in the soil. This in turn can increase the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere resulting in increase in global temperatures.
          The availability of SOC differs according to zones, with the humid parts of the world having more carbon-rich soil.
Key Word:mineral,coal,naturally decayed organic matter.