Simulating climate change impact on soil carbon sequestration in agro-ecosystem of mid-Himalayan landscape using CENTURY model

Soils play significant roles in global carbon cycle. The increase in atmospheric CO₂ due to climate change may have a significant impact on both soil organic carbon storage and management practices to sequester organic carbon in agricultural areas. The aim of the study was to simulate climate change impact on soil carbon sequestration using CENTURY model. The statistical downscaling model (SDSM) was used to downscale the climate variables (temperature and rainfall) under two scenarios A2 and B2 for three periods: 2020 (2011–2040), 2050 (2041–2070) and 2080 (2071–2099). Downscaling was better in case of temperature than precipitation, which was evident from coefficient of correlation for temperature (r ² = 0.91–0.99) and precipitation (r ² = 0.71–0.80). Downscaling of climate data revealed that the temperature may increase for the years 2020, 2050 and 2080 periods, whereas precipitation may increase till 2020 and then it may reduce in 2050 and 2080 as compared to 2020 in the study area. For CENTURY model, the input parameters were obtained through soil sampling and interviewing the farmers as well, whereas the climatic variables (maximum temperature, minimum temperature and precipitation) were taken from the SDSM output. The historical data of soils were collected from the literature, and six agricultural sites were selected for estimating soil carbon sequestration. After soil sampling of the same sites, it was found that the organic carbon had increased two times than historical data might be due to the addition of high organic matter in the form of farm yard manure. Therefore, the model was calibrated, considering more organic carbon in the area, and was validated using random points in the study area. Determination coefficient (r ² = 0.95) and RMSE (538 g c/m²) were computed to assess the accuracy of the model. The organic carbon was predicted from 2011 to 2099 and was compared with the 2011 predicted data. The study revealed that the amount of soil organic carbon in Bhaitan, Kanatal, Kotdwar, Malas, Pata and Thangdhar sites may reduce by 11.6, 15.8, 17.19, 13.54, 19.2 and 12.7%, respectively, for A2 scenario and by 9.62, 15.6, 15.72, 11.45, 16.96 and 13.36% for B2 scenario up to 2099. The study provides comprehensive possible future scenarios of soil carbon sequestration in the mid-Himalaya for scientists and policy makers.