Soil carbon, particularly soil organic carbon (SOC), is a central component of the climate system as it regulates carbon exchanges among soil, the atmosphere, and vegetation. The FAO emphasizes that SOC plays an essential role in soil health, fertility, and ecosystem services; at the same time, soils store approximately three times more carbon than the atmosphere, so SOC depletion can increase carbon emissions and reinforce adverse soil climate feedbacks (FAO, 2026). The organization also highlights that soil restoration and sustainable management are key pathways to simultaneously enhance carbon sequestration and improve the climate resilience of agricultural systems.
At the global scale, the IPCC indicates that soil carbon sequestration in croplands and grasslands has considerable mitigation potential, estimated at approximately 0.4-8.6 GtCO2-eq per year (IPCC, 2023). However, its effectiveness strongly depends on ecological conditions, governance, and long-term sustainability. The IPCC also stresses that increasing soil carbon, restoring peatlands, and managing coastal blue carbon can deliver co-benefits for biodiversity, livelihoods, and ecosystem functions, although these measures cannot substitute for direct emission reductions (IPCC, 2023). In Vietnam, where soil carbon dynamics are closely linked to intensive agriculture, particularly paddy rice systems and land use change, there is an urgent need to integrate field measurements, modeling, and remote sensing to accurately quantify carbon stocks, fluxes, and mitigation potential, thereby supporting low-carbon agricultural strategies and climate change adaptation.
In this context, soil carbon should be recognized as a central pillar of climate strategy and sustainable agricultural development. Shifting from an extractive approach to science-based soil carbon management, integrating monitoring, modeling, and adaptive land-use practices, is an urgent requirement.
Authors: Tung Xuan Tan Nguyen, Binh Thanh Nguyen*
References
FAO. (2026). Global Soil Partnership. https://www.fao.org/global-soil-partnership/areas-of-work/soil-organic-carbon/en/
IPCC. (2023). Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. https://doi.org/10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647
ⓒ 2026 BICE | Biochar-based Integrated Circular Economy for Paddy Rice.
