Know more

Scaling up climate-smart soil management requires addressing a range of barriers, but especially the availability of knowledge. A new report from Ecologic Institute under the CIRCASA project, drawing on extensive stakeholder consultation, shows the importance of empowering farmers and other stakeholders through effective knowledge creation and exchange. Asked about their knowledge needs, farmers pointed to a lack of knowledge around the question ‘what is in it for me?’ when applying carbon sequestration practices, particularly concerning benefits, risks, trade-offs and time effort. They furthermore seek guidance on ‘how do I get there?’, involving questions around farm-level management and financial support. Other stakeholders expressed a need for more information on financing options and monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV).
Importantly, the issue is not merely a lack of available knowledge and the need for more research. While more research is certainly required in some areas (e.g. MRV), the report finds that the accessibility and applicability of existing knowledge is a key area of concern in other areas (e.g. farm-level management). To create an enabling environment for farmers and other stakeholders, innovative forms of knowledge creation and exchange need to complement traditional top-down research and dissemination. Here, participatory forms of knowledge (co-)creation and exchange, which involve farmers in the research process, and therefore in defining the research question and in the collection of data, are promising. Examples are so-called living labs and the crowdsourcing of information.
To take these insights forward, the CIRCASA project is developing a strategic international research agenda to encourage further research on soil carbon sequestration and to pursue the question of how to create (research) infrastructures which facilitate regionally applicable insights and exchange.

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