Managing soil carbon stocks to enhance the resilience of urban ecosystems

Land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) by urbanization will likely replace agricultural expansion as the dominant source of transformation of the terrestrial biosphere. Properly managed urban soils can offset some of the associated carbon (C) losses from urban soils and vegetation by retaining stabilized soil organic carbon (SOC) or soil inorganic carbon (SIC) such as mineral-associated C, black carbon (BC), and stable carbonate minerals. For example, SOC stocks of up to 810 Mg C ha–1 to 1.5 m depth (Serebryanye Prudy, Russia) and SIC stocks of up to 300 Mg C ha–1 to 2.5 m depth (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) have been reported, but data on urban soil C storage are scanty. Aside from contributing to climate change mitigation, protecting and increasing SOC stocks support critically important soil-derived ecosystem services. Thus, C-friendly soil and land-use management practices must be developed and implemented to enhance soil-derived ecosystem services in urban areas, and the resilience of urban ecosystems to climate change. A collective management approach for urban soil C is needed. The principal actors involved should be urban land users (e.g., urban dwellers, property owners, developers) as the immediate users and managers of soil C, local professionals, local government and NGOs.