Governing black soils for food and climate security

Black soils feed the world yet remain undervalued in food and climate governance frameworks. A policy package, including global monitoring as public infrastructure, co-designed and place-based solutions based on tailored tools, planning that fits land and people, mobilizing alliance with finance and force, and mainstreaming black soils in global pacts, can contribute to improving land quality and stabilize yields where it matters most.

The black soils, characterized by a thick, dark-colored soil horizon, and rich organic matter content, cover just 17% of global cropland yet yield two-thirds of sunflower seed, half of millet, 42% of sugar beet, 30% of wheat, and a quarter of potatoes while storing roughly 30% of cropland carbon¹. Black soils constitute not only a critical global food production base (Fig. 1a), but also deliver key ecosystem services, including regulatory functions (e.g., carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling) and provisioning benefits (e.g., biodiversity maintenance, climate mitigation). As vital regulators of socio-ecological systems, they sustain agricultural productivity while enhancing rural livelihoods. However, intensified cultivation, driven by escalating food demand resulting from population growth and dietary shifts, has triggered widespread degradation².

Fig. 1: Agricultural productivity and key parameters of the world’s four major black soil regions.

a Contribution of each region to global production of key staple and oilseed crops. Values represent the percentage of global output sourced from black-soil cropland within each region. Region A: Ukraine and European Russia; B: Northeast China; C: United States and Canada; D: South America. b Regional comparison of agricultural inputs (fertilizer, irrigation, and pesticide), subsoil compaction susceptibility index (SCSI), and key soil properties (bulk density, soil organic carbon, pH). Values are cropland-weighted means derived from publicly available global datasets. We integrated multiple datasets to characterize cropland conditions across four major black-soil regions. Cropland extent was derived from Historic Land Dynamics Assessment Plus (HILDA⁺), and black-soil boundary were compiled from the USDA NRCS Global Soil Type Database (Ukraine/European Russia, North America and South America) and China’s Second National Soil Survey (Northeast China). All layers were rasterized, reprojected and resampled to the HILDA⁺ grid, then intersected to delineate cropland within each black-soil region. Crop harvested area (SPAM v2.0, 2020) was used to compute total harvested area and dominant crop shares. Agricultural inputs were summarized from global products: fertilizer (Global Crop Specific Fertilization dataset for 1961 to 2019), irrigation (GMIE, a global maximum irrigation extent and central pivot irrigation system dataset), and pesticides (PEST-CHEMGRIDS). SCSI and SoilGrids 2.0 soil properties were aggregated over cropland for each region. Detailed data sources and processing steps are provided in Supplementary Note 1.

The black soils are becoming poorer, thinner, harder, and dirtier. Over the past 70 years, intensive tillage, residue removal, land clearing, and a warming climate have stripped 20–50% of their original soil-organic-carbon (SOC) stocks¹ and thinned topsoil from 60–80 cm in the 1950s to 20–40 cm in China’s Songnen Plain in the 2020s³. Comparable losses haunt Iowa’s prairies, where “conservation” tillage still costs an estimated US $3 billion in annual yield penalties⁴, and Ukraine’s chernozems, where decades of monoculture have drained up to 22% of soil organic matter while topsoil blows into the Dnipro River basin¹. Beyond surface erosion, modern mechanization has introduced an invisible threat: subsoil compaction. In regions with long-term monoculture and intensive machinery use, this persistent compaction impairs root elongation and water infiltration⁵. Degradation is further compounded by climate change and other unsustainable practices such as excessive agrochemical inputs (Fig. 1b).

Soil degradation and climate change jointly threaten food security⁶, with the high stakes in carbon-rich, highly productive black soil regions¹. As soils lose organic carbon and experience intensified erosion, their capacity to retain nutrients and water declines, directly undermining crop productivity and yield stability⁷. In Northeast China, topsoil thinning due to erosion has been linked to yield reductions of ~27%⁸, with every additional 1000 t km⁻² yr⁻¹ of soil loss corresponding to estimated declines of around 170 kg ha⁻¹ for maize and 44.6 kg ha⁻¹ for soybean⁹. Notably, such degradation is not inevitable, as conservation tillage can improve soil quality and increase maize yields by more than 15%¹⁰. Beyond on-farm impacts, the release of CO₂ from soil carbon loss exacerbates climate warming⁶, while rising temperatures and altered precipitation patterns further accelerate erosion and organic matter decomposition¹¹. This self-reinforcing feedback is projected to drive ongoing declines in soil organic carbon across global black soil regions under future climate change¹². Concurrently, climate extremes including droughts and floods impose additional shocks on crop production¹³. Combined drought and extreme heat have been shown to reduce both yields and harvested area, contributing to production losses across 94% of U.S. counties and an estimated 7.6% decline in total maize production under the warming scenarios¹⁴.

Black soils hold crucial significance in safeguarding food security and alleviating climate change. Nevertheless, it has long been overlooked in mainstream international discourse on food and climate issues, and this neglected is reflected in the lack of robust regulatory frameworks and effective enforcement mechanisms. Only five of 166 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) even mentioned black soils¹⁵, while multilateral trade and biodiversity continue to treat them as an afterthought.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) began addressing this gap with the establishment of the International Network of Black Soils (INBS) in 2018 and the release of its Global Status of Black Soils report in 2022. However, moving from assessment to action requires a coherent framework that integrates real-time information with locally adapted technology and equitable governance. Here we outline such a framework (Fig. 2), spanning global monitoring, inclusive planning, tailored tools, a dedicated alliance, and mainstreaming in global pacts, and show how it can stabilize food security, rural livelihoods, and climate mitigation on the world’s most productive soils.

Fig. 2: An integrated framework for black soils conservation.

The diagram visualizes a strategic pathway linking science, policy, and practice. Foundational global monitoring informs the development of tailored Tools and inclusive planning, which are synergized by a central alliance for action to drive mainstreaming in global pacts. Global monitoring provides a high-precision knowledge graph of black soils, while inclusive planning and tailored tools offer regional-scale and localized governance strategies. Alliance for Action synergizes these efforts to drive the highest goal: Mainstreaming black soil targets into global governance. Conceived as an overarching strategic guide, its effective implementation at national or regional levels must be tailored to specific institutional, financial, and environmental settings. Phase 1, integration & demonstration (short-term: 1–3 years) establishes core global black soil knowledge graph, launches select high-impact black soil demo hubs, and builds stakeholder consensus to secure initial commitments. Phase 2, scaling & customization (medium-term: 4–6 years) divides agricultural regions to enable all-for-one customization, develops place-based solutions that meet agro-ecological demands while upholding the principle of equality, and constitutes the Global black soil protection alliance (GBSPA) to consolidate commitments and coordinate scaling. Phase 3, mainstreaming & sustained governance (long-term: 7+ years) mainstreams black soil targets into global carbon markets and trade agreements and sustains conservation through permanent institutional support and innovative financing mechanisms. UNEP united nations environment program, WB the world bank, IPCC intergovernmental panel on climate change.

Global monitoring as public infrastructure

Black-soil stewardship today is a cartographer’s patchwork. Fewer than one-third of black-soil regions have repeat SOC plots, and national inventories diverge in terms of sampling depths, laboratory protocols, and reporting formats. The absence of interoperable data leaves agronomists guessing where erosion bites hardest and policymakers blind to whether subsidies are slowing carbon loss.

A two-tier architecture is proposed. At the top sits an open-access Black Soil Knowledge Graph stewarded by FAO and INBS. Built on FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Re-usable) principles, the graph would fuse legacy soil surveys, high-frequency sensor feeds, multispectral imagery, farm-record data, and peer-reviewed studies. A harmonized indicator suite, including SOC-stock change, topsoil thickness, aggregate stability, erosion risk, and below-ground biodiversity, would render trends comparable across borders and feed open-source modules for carbon accounting, drought forecasting, and land-use simulation.

Ground truth comes from a Real-Time Monitoring Network operated by national and sub-national agencies. China already streams hourly SOC-moisture readings from >2000 probes across Heilongjiang Province; paired with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle imagery and smartphone uploads from growers, these data feed regional dashboards that pinpoint hotspots for straw-return subsidies. Europe’s LUCAS program (Land Use/Cover Area frame statistical Survey), which tags soil samples to 10-meter Sentinel-2 pixels, demonstrates how continental harmonization can refine local policy. Scaling such capacity requires funding: a multilateral trust fund, seeded by Article 6 climate finance flows and the Global Environment Facility, should co-finance sensors, lab upgrades, and technician training in low-income chernozem belts. With alerts from this backbone, ministries can target payments to the most vulnerable hectares and verify outcomes; without it, stewardship remains a matter of guesswork.

Co-designed and place-based solutions based on tailored tools

Biophysical fixes founder when they ignore social reality. On China’s Sanjiang Plain, variable-rate fertilizer spread only after trusted neighbors demonstrated its ease-of-use¹⁶, revealing that social proof outweighed cost–benefit spreadsheets. Comparable social dynamics appear in Argentina’s Pampas, where the Argentina no-till farmers association promote conservation practices through field demonstrations, workshops, and technical exchanges¹⁷. Likewise, in Kazakhstan’s steppe regions, where the shared use of farm machinery and transport vehicles reduces per-unit costs of inputs and services¹⁸.

Technologies must also meet agro-ecological constraints. Multi-strain, bio-engineered straw-decomposition agents reduce residue breakdown time by 75% and boost rice yields in cold Northeast soils¹⁹. In drier steppe climates, they risk mineralizing scarce moisture, so a shallow-incorporation or surface-mulch approach works better. AI-guided planters, trained on centimeter-scale microtopography, allow Iowa growers to seed corn directly into previous-crop stubble, preserving soil armor while maintaining high yields. Flexibility, modularity and local calibration are therefore design imperatives.

Integrating advanced in-season crop yield prediction models is crucial for food security under climate change. Recent advancements demonstrate the value of assimilating seasonal climate forecasts and satellite-based observations for timely yield forecasting in Northeast China, enabling predictions up to one month before harvest with an average bias of ~5%²⁰. Such forecasts allow farmers to proactively mitigate climate risks through adaptive practices like adjusted irrigation or residue management, while assisting policymakers in setting trade tariffs, adjusting market prices, and enhancing overall food security.

Equity is non-negotiable. FAO gender guidelines require sex-disaggregated metrics and safeguards against bias in land or labor access²¹. Mechanization that overlooks women’s shorter credit horizons or seasonal labor peaks can entrench inequalities. However, well-designed agricultural technology can also serve as a powerful tool for promoting equity. For instance, smart agriculture tools can lower entry barriers for women, who often excel in technical training, machinery operation and data analysis. Participatory co-design, which engages women and marginalized groups in testing prototypes and negotiate trade-offs, transforms them from passive adopters into active co-innovators, directly addressing potential biases²². To institutionalize these principles, FAO should issue Inclusive Innovation Standards, fund regional “Black-Soil Demo Hubs” with explicit equity targets, and host an open-license digital toolbox. Governments can bundle these tools with gender-responsive micro-loans to bridge credit gaps and outcome-based soil-health payments that reward stewardship rather than acreage alone, thereby building a fairer system for all land managers.

Planning that fits land and people

High-resolution soil intelligence must mesh with tenure and power on the ground. SOC maps are only as good as the planning regimes that use them. High-resolution chernozem layers fused with cadastral boundaries helped Ukrainian councils adjust crop-rotation rules and re-establish shelterbelts, cutting wind-erosion losses by 1.8 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹²³. Where ethiopian highland villages—half the participants were women—co-drew contour terraces and fallow corridors, SOC loss fell by a third, and grain yields rose 9% within three seasons²⁴.

China has gone further, enacting the world’s first dedicated Black Soil Conservation Law in 2022 and backing it with large—scale projects and annual white papers. China’s All-for-One Customization offers a template for multiscale integration²⁵. Parcel-level soil surveys (1:5 000) feed village land-use maps, which in turn inform county master plans aligned with provincial dual objectives of food security and ecological conservation and provincial targets. The “whole-territory customization” approach employs stratified interventions: At the county level, management units are delineated by erosion sensitivity and SOC thresholds; at the village level, site-specific packages. The system funnels straw-return subsidies, no-till machinery banks, and erosion-control terraces to the thinnest soils, lifting SOC by 0.3% yr⁻¹ while maintaining grain-output goals²⁶.

Exporting this model means translating and adapting it for localization, not transplanting it. FAO can curate open-source workflows (data pipelines, governance protocols, and performance dashboards) and broker South–South exchanges, allowing, for instance, Mongolian herder associations or Brazilian Cerrado municipalities to adapt the approach to their tenure mosaics and climate risks. Host countries should pilot inclusive planning cells anchored in local tenure law, indigenous knowledge, and youth and women’s organizations, with result-based payments triggered by verified carbon gains or erosion cuts.

A key strength of this integrated framework is its ability to align global goals with local priorities. The pursuit of soil carbon sequestration for climate mitigation, for instance, need not conflict with local food sovereignty or economic development. Through inclusive, place-based planning and tailored tools, conservation practices can be designed to generate multiple co-benefits. No-till farming with residue return not only stores carbon but also enhances soil water retention and lowers fertilizer needs, thereby simultaneously advancing climate, productivity, and farm-income objectives. Iterative planning and monitoring cycles allow interventions to be adapted to local agro-ecological and socio-economic conditions, transforming potential trade-offs into sustained synergies.

Mobilizing alliance with finance and force

Technical networks alone lack the muscle and money to move markets. The INBS convenes webinars and issues white papers but has no mandate to mobilize finance, and the Global Soil Partnership’s resolutions remain largely exhortatory. We therefore call for an FAO-hosted Global Black Soil Protection Alliance (GBSPA), which would be a multi-stakeholder platform that fuses science, finance, and diplomacy.

The Alliance’s first task is to finalize global indicators and report protocols, locking the monitoring architecture into place. Its second task is to broker technology exchange: pairing Ukraine’s 30-cm chernozem depth maps with Brazil’s advanced residue-management rigs or adapting China’s customization dashboards to Kazakh steppe districts. The third pillar is finance. A dedicated window blending Green Climate Fund grants, Global Environment Facility co-finance, and concessional loans, and outcome-based payments could underwrite sensor grids, machinery banks, and Black-Soil Academies in low-income regions. This blended finance mechanism is designed to de-risk investment and mobilize additional private capital, establishing a sustainable funding model that extends beyond public grants. Donor appetite exists: the global environment facility approved a US$68 million soil-restoration package in 2024 that explicitly earmarks black-soil landscapes²⁷.

Governance must be inclusive. Seats on the Alliance steering committee should be reserved for indigenous peoples, women farmers, and youth representatives, and every funded project should report sex-disaggregated benefits. Embedding such safeguards prevents capture by large agribusinesses and aligns with FAO’s voluntary guidelines on gender equality²¹.

Mainstreaming black soils in global pacts

Policy alignment unlocks scale. A recent stock-take found that only five NDCs mention black soils¹⁵, and soils appear merely as a footnote in the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Parties to the Paris Agreement could register black-soil projects under Article 6.2 cooperative approaches, opening a tradable stream of soil-based carbon credits. The biodiversity “30 × 30” target could prioritize remnant prairie and steppe chernozems as twin carbon–biodiversity hotspots, while World Trade Organization green-trade talks could fast-track tariff reductions for “black-soil-friendly” commodities—grains certified as produced under residue cover and reduced tillage.

Moving from pledge to practice demands people. A regional Black Soil Academies is proposed, building on FAO’s Soil Doctors but adding accredited diplomas that national ministries recognize for credit access and career advancement. Each academy would blend modern soil science with traditional ecological knowledge and gender-responsive extension. By establishing a pilot “black-soil research institute”, Heilongjiang has successfully promoted strip-till and residue-return techniques and proven effective in retaining more young people in farming. South–South scholarships—say, pairing Argentine agronomists with Ukrainian extension agents—can multiply such results.

Outlook

Coordinating real-time data, inclusive technology, participatory planning, multilateral finance, and capacity building transforms today’s scattered pilot projects into a coherent global campaign. A monitoring backbone tells us where to act; locally calibrated tools and land-use plans direct how to act; an Alliance secures money and diplomacy; and mainstreaming embeds black-soil targets in the rules that govern trade, climate, and biodiversity.

The implementation of this framework will face several predictable challenges. These include concerns over data sovereignty in global monitoring, political constraints to cross-border technology transfer and the practical barriers to meaningful smallholder participation in alliance governance. To address these, a federated data governance model can allow countries to retain sovereignty while contributing to a shared knowledge graph. Technology exchange can be facilitated through multilateral licensing agreements and open-source digital toolboxes to lower access barriers. Moreover, the governance structure of the GBSPA should formally reserve seats for smallholder and women farmer representatives, supported by targeted capacity-building programs, to ensure equitable and inclusive decision-making.

By being implemented as a package and backed by sustained political will, this framework can halt the erosion of the planet’s most productive soils, turning them from a silent casualty of modern agriculture into a linchpin of food security, rural prosperity, and climate stability for decades to come. Black soils are rare, non-renewable on human timescales, and irreplaceable in their ecosystem services; protecting them is no longer optional but essential planetary insurance.