What Are Black Soils and Why Are Black Soils Important in Multiregional Aspects?

Due to the growing population and consequent pressure of use, “black soils” are essential for sustainable food production amid climate change, thanks to their natural fertility and high water retention, which provides resilience to external impacts, including weather changes. Additionally, they uniquely filter and buffer soil contaminants. “Black soils” have been cultivated for decades and are essential for global agricultural production, supporting cereals, tuber crops, oilseeds, pastures, and forage systems. “Black soils” is a term used on soil maps and in classifications within some countries (influenced by national language specifics), no standardized definition exists at the global level. In terms of alignment with international soil classification systems, most black soils correspond to Chernozems, Kastanozems, and Phaeozems in the World Reference Base for Soil Resources. The “black soils” with moderate to high SOC content are most widely found in Eurasia, North America, and Latin America. These “black soils” hold 8.2% of global SOC stocks and can potentially sequester 10% of the worldwide SOC capacity. Due to land conversion (from grasslands and forests to cropland), unsustainable practices, and high agrochemical use, many black soils have already lost at least half of their carbon stocks, suffering from moderate to severe erosion, nutrient imbalances, acidification, compaction, and loss of soil biodiversity. The works received for this Special Issue demonstrate great variability in terms of black soil geography, landscape and management (Argentina Pampas, protected areas and steppe zone of Russia, corn belt in Northeast China, tropical black soils of Indonesia, Benoue river valley in Garoua, Northern Cameroon). By targeting measures or available practices that minimize soil threats such as reduced or zero-tillage and nutrients, water, and biomass management, it is possible to address SOC loss, nutrient imbalance, biodiversity loss, compaction, and erosion. These issues are fundamental to addressing the issue of black soil protection, especially when considering sustainable crop production. Climate mitigation and carbon sequestration potential modeling is a useful tool to enhance the black soil governments.