Liao et al. (2026). Governing black soils for food and climate security

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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69018-7

Received: 7 October 2025
Accepted: 21 January 2026

Cite this article as: Liao, X., Li, Y.,

Wang, J.

et al. Governing black soils

for food and climate security.

Nat

Commun (2026). https://doi.org/

10.1038/s41467-026-69018-7

Xiaoyong Liao, You Li, Jieyong Wang, Jinwei Dong, Qixing Yao, Jing Li, Ruixing Hou,

Zehong Li, Yitao Zhang, Xiaoxu Jia & Guoyong Leng

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Governing black soils for food and climate security

Xiaoyong Liao

1*

, You Li

1

, Jieyong Wang

1

, Jinwei Dong

1

, Qixing Yao

1

, Jing Li

1

, Ruixing Hou

1

,

Zehong Li

1

, Yitao Zhang

1

, Xiaoxu Jia

1

, Guoyong Leng

1

Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences,

Beijing 100101, China.

*e-mail: liaoxy@igsnrr.ac.cn

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 decline 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 carbon

1

.

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 degradation

2

.

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) stocks

1

and thinned topsoil from 60–80 cm in the 1950s to 20–

40 cm in China’s Songnen Plain in the 2020s

3

. Comparable losses haunt Iowa’s prairies, where

“conservation” tillage still costs an estimated US $3 billion in annual yield penalties

4

, and

Ukraine’s chernozems, where decades of monoculture have drained up to 22 % of soil organic

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matter while topsoil blows into the Dnipro River basin

1

.

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 infiltration

5

. Degradation is further compounded by climate change and other unsustainable

practices such as excessive agrochemical inputs (Fig. 1b).

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

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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.

Soil degradation and climate change jointly threaten food security

6

, with the high stakes in carbon-

rich, highly productive black soil regions

1

. As soils lose organic carbon and experience intensified

erosion, their capacity to retain nutrients and water declines, directly undermining crop
productivity and yield stability

7

. In Northeast China, topsoil thinning due to erosion has been

linked to yield reductions of approximately 27%

8

, with every additional 1,000 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
soybean

9

. 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 warming

6

, while rising temperatures and altered

precipitation patterns further accelerate erosion and organic matter decomposition

11

. This self-

reinforcing feedback is projected to drive ongoing declines in soil organic carbon across global
black soil regions under future climate change

12

. Concurrently, climate extremes including

droughts and floods impose additional shocks on crop production

13

. 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 scenarios

14

.

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 soils

15

, 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

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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.

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Abbreviations: UNEP, united nations environment programme; 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  >  2,000  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 programme  (Land Use/Cover Area  frame statistical Survey), which  tags soil
samples  to  10-metre  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-use

16

, 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

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practices through field demonstrations, workshops, and technical exchanges

17

. Likewise, in

Kazakhstan’s steppe regions, where the shared use of farm machinery and transport vehicles
reduces per-unit costs of inputs and services

18

.

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 soils

19

. 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 access

21

. 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  biases

22

. 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

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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⁻¹

23

. 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 seasons

24

.

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

Customisation

offers a template for multiscale integration

25

. 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 goals

26

.

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.

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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
landscapes

27

.

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 equality

21

.

Mainstreaming black soils in global pacts

Policy alignment unlocks scale. A recent stock-take found that only five NDCs mention black
soils

15

, 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.

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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 its ecosystem
services; protecting it is no longer optional but essential planetary insurance.

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Guo, L. et al. Effects of long-term no tillage and straw return on greenhouse gas emissions and
crop yields from a rice-wheat system in central China.

Agr. Ecosyst. Environ

322

, 107650

(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2021.107650.

27.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Global Environment Facility

approves

$68

million

for

agrifood

systems

solutions

(2024).

https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/global-environment-facility-approves-68-million-for-
agrifood-systems-solutions/en.

Acknowledgement

The study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(42225707) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No.
XDA28130000). We also thank Dr. Yifeng Cui for his contributions to part of the data collection.

Author contributions

Conceptualization: X.L.; Writing

—

original draft: X.L., Y. L., J. D. Q. Y.; Writing

—

review &

editing: X.L., Y. L., J. W., J. D., Q. Y., J. L., R. H., Z. L., Y. Z., X. J., G. L.; Funding acquisition:
X.L.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Correspondence

and requests for materials should be addressed to Xiaoyong Liao

Liao et al. (2026). Governing black soils for food and climate security

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