IDENTIFICATION OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TARGETED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR ORGANIC SOIL MANAGEMENT IN THE BALTIC REGION

Organic soils can be a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in countries with high peat soil coverage, and emissions are observed in both sectors of agriculture and land use, land use change and forestry. This phenomenon is well-known and persistent in the Nordic part of Europe, but proper soil management practices are not often exhaustively understood and present. This study aims to assess the current situation by identifying the climate change mitigation (CCM) targeted management practices on organic soils managed for agriculture in the Baltic region. We did an expert questionnaire and screened the climate change and agriculture-related policy documents by identifying implemented or politically supported practices in the researched countries and looking for GHG mitigation practices with the most significant future potential. The assessment revealed a general lack of proper policy planning around organic soil management, a lack of direct measures and quantitative GHG mitigation estimates allowing adequate monitoring and reporting of the GHG effects into national GHG inventory reports; however, the situation differs among countries. Guidance on potential GHG mitigation through organic soil management suggests six management practices with the potentially most significant potential in the temperate cool and moist climate zone - conversion of cropland used for cereal production into grassland considering periodic ploughing, controlled drainage of grassland considering even groundwater level during the whole vegetation period, the introduction of legumes in conventional farm crop rotation, agroforestry of fast-growing trees and grass, conventional afforestation and paludiculture by afforestation of grassland with black alder and birch.