Effectiveness of the United Kingdom Soil Protection Laws in Protecting the Ecosystem Service of Carbon Sequestration
Effectiveness of the United Kingdom Soil Protection Laws in Protecting the Ecosystem Service of Carbon Sequestration

Effectiveness of the United Kingdom Soil Protection Laws in Protecting the Ecosystem Service of Carbon Sequestration

Summary/Abstract: Carbon is crucial for life and exists in various reservoirs, such as plant tissues, soil organic matter,geology, and atmosphere. There is a direct relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) levelsin the atmosphere and rising temperatures. CO2 is removed from the atmosphere and storedin ecosystems. Carbon sequestration (CS) – the process of capturing and storing atmosphericCO2 – and expanding C storage of soils are appealing climate change (CC) responses. Agriculturalsoils are one of the largest C reservoirs and have potential for extended CS. Thus, protectingthis ecosystem service (ES) we obtain from soils is crucial for addressing CC. Soil protectionlegislation should incorporate the significance of CS.The key issues in the sphere of natural resources can only be addressed by utilizing naturalsciences in legal arguments. Accordingly, this study begins with highlighting the importance ofsoils for CS from a natural science perspective. This study analyses soil protection laws in the UKby scrutinizing whether they eliminate pressures on agricultural soils in a way that protect CS.The findings of this study suggest that soil protection laws do not offer a satisfactory protectionfor CS. We conclude by discussing alternative approaches for protecting CS in an effective mannerand reverse the current trends in ES protection.

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