A REVIEW ON SOIL CARBON FUTURES: INDIAN RESEARCH PATHWAYS FOR SOIL HEALTH, CARBON SEQUESTRATION AND CLIMATE-RESILIENT LAND MANAGEMENT

Abstract

Soil carbon is a critical component of agricultural soil health, ecosystem functioning, climate regulation, and the long-term resilience of food production systems. In India, increasing climate variability, rising temperatures, droughts, floods, soil degradation, and declining soil organic matter pose significant challenges to sustainable agricultural production. This review examines the current status of soil carbon research in India and evaluates its potential contribution to climate-resilient agriculture. The review synthesizes evidence on major soil carbon pools, including soil organic carbon, particulate organic carbon, mineral-associated organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, and aggregate-associated carbon, with emphasis on their formation, stabilization, persistence, and sensitivity to environmental and management factors. The distribution and dynamics of soil carbon across major Indian agro-ecological regions and soil types are discussed, along with the effects of conservation agriculture, crop diversification, residue retention, cover cropping, organic amendments, biochar, agroforestry, integrated nutrient management, and improved water management. Particular attention is given to the interactions among soil carbon, soil health, crop productivity, greenhouse-gas emissions, and resilience to drought, heat, and excess rainfall. Recent advances in soil-carbon measurement, spectroscopy, remote sensing, geographic information systems, machine learning, process-based modelling, and measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) systems are also reviewed. The analysis highlights major research gaps, including limited long-term field datasets, inadequate representation of deep-soil carbon, uncertainty in carbon permanence, insufficient integration of CO2, CH4 and NO2 emissions, and limited region-specific evidence for smallholder farming systems. Finally, a research roadmap, termed “Soil Carbon Futures in India,” is proposed to integrate long-term experimentation, digital soil-carbon mapping, robust MRV frameworks, farmer-centred management, and supportive policy mechanisms. Strengthening soil-carbon research and its translation into region-specific management strategies can provide an important pathway for improving soil health, sustaining agricultural productivity, mitigating greenhouse-gas emissions, and enhancing the climate resilience of Indian agriculture.