Catalonia produces its first soil map to fight against climate change

The Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC) has developed the first soil map of the community, a tool that, according to experts, is key to applying climate change mitigation policies.

The document, which has been presented this Friday by the director of the ICGC, Jaume Massó, and the general director of Agriculture and Livestock, Elisenda Guillaumes, is made at a scale of 1:250,000 and offers information on the distribution of soils in the territory and their physical, chemical and biological characteristics.

According to Massó, the information on this map is essential to be able to apply the Law of Agrarian Spaces, which must allow the protection of soils of high agricultural value and agrarian territorial planning.

Increasing the capacity of different types of soils to store carbon is one of the actions that can mitigate the effects of climate change.

Experts have explained that increasing the capacity of different types of soils to absorb and store carbon is one of the actions that can be applied to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The project was born from the need to know this limited resource, non-renewable in the short and medium term and subject to numerous threats, to preserve and manage it in a sustainable way, Massó stressed.

Thus, the map offers precise information on the agronomic, ecosystem and environmental values of the various cartographic units into which the Catalan soil has been divided.

Soils represent the third most important carbon reservoir on the planet

According to experts, soils represent the third most important carbon reservoir on the planet, after the oceans and geological strata, and certain soil management practices manage to increase their capacity to absorb and store organic carbon, thus becoming a relevant tool to mitigate the effects of climate change.

On the other hand, the information provided by this map will be an essential tool to be able to apply the Law of Agrarian Spaces (LEA), approved by Parliament on June 17, Guillaumes stressed.

“The content of this soil map will be very valuable to determine which are the soils of high agricultural value to be protected, as well as the disused productive lands likely to be part of the Land Bank provided for by the Law,” he said.

This map and the associated databases should also serve as the basis for the Agrarian Territorial Plan.

Source: The Vanguard