新研究：光靠地球的土壤，就能抵消美国每年的碳排放量

Restoring and protecting the world's soil could absorb more than 5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year - roughly what the US emits annually - new research showed Monday.

周一新研究显示，恢复和保护世界的土壤每年就能够吸收超过50亿吨的二氧化碳，相当于美国一年的排放量。

Last year the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that the world needed to work harder to retain the land's ability to absorb and store planet-warming greenhouse gases and prevent it turning from a carbon sink to a source.

去年联合国政府间气候变化专门委员会说，全世界需要更加努力地保持土地吸收并储存使全球变暖的温室气体的能力，防止它从碳汇变成碳源。

Just the first metre of soil around the world contains as much carbon as is currently in the atmosphere, locking up the CO2 sequestered in trees as they decompose and return to the earth.

全球仅1米的土壤的含碳量就和目前大气中的一样多，在树木腐烂回到土壤中时就能将二氧化碳锁住。

A new paper in the journal Nature Sustainability analysed the potential for carbon sequestration in soils and found it could, if properly managed, contribute a quarter of absorbtion on land.

在《Nature Sustainability》杂志中，一篇新论文分析了将二氧化碳锁在土壤中的可能性，发现如果妥善管理，土壤可以吸收四分之一的二氧化碳。

The total potential for land-based sequestration is 23.8 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent, so soil could in theory absorb 5.5 billion tonnes annually.

陆地固碳总量为238亿吨二氧化碳，所以从理论上讲，土壤每年能吸收55亿吨。

Most of this potential, around 40 percent, can be achieved simply by leaving existing soil alone - that is, not continuing to expand agriculture and plantation growth across the globe.

吸收总量中约40%仅仅通过保持现有土壤不变就可以实现，也就是说，全球不要继续扩大农业和种植面积。

"Most of the ongoing destruction of these ecosystems is about expanding the footprint of agriculture, so slowing or halting that expansion is an important strategy," said Deborah Bossio, principal study author and lead soil scientist for The Nature Conservancy.

此次研究的主要作者、大自然保护协会的首席土壤科学家Deborah Bossio说：“大部分对生态系统进行的破坏都是为了扩大农业面积，所以减缓或停止这种扩张是一项重要战略。”