Soil organic carbon within the European Union Soil Thematic Strategy; Soils and agriculture; Soils and biodiversity; Soils and climate change; The soil and water nexus Soils will play a central role in achieving the SDGs by 2030. Soil organic carbon is key to mitigating climate change, preserving soil biodiversity and protecting land from desertification. It therefore needs to become central within the related political framworks of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) and thUNCCD. Unfortunately, soils still have a marginal role in these Conventions. We are still far away from the full recognition of the central role of SOC in achieving the goals of the Rio+20 Sustainable Development Agenda. There is an urgent need to include soils in the global debate about sustainable development and climate change.
