According to a research report published in the latest edition of Environmental Science & Technology, calcium promotes the formation of a mineral called Aragonite in soil, binding CO2 and preventing it from escaping into the air.
If validated, the finding could prove to be a game-changer, helping the planet quicken its strides towards a decarbonised future.
More specifically, the breakthrough could spawn new strategies for mitigating the impact of global warming in regions like the Arctic that are disproportionately affected by rising temperatures. When the Arctic permafrost melts it releases large volumes of organic carbon that can snowball the pace of climate change. By trapping much of this organic carbon, calcium could prevent this from happening and consequently slow global warming.
The finding is particularly significant as temperatures in the Arctic are rising twice as fast as anywhere else, pushing the region to the brink of a calamitous, carbon-induced meltdown.
The authors of this path-breaking study, however, caution that a great deal of more work needs to be done to ascertain the long-term stability of these carbon mineral compounds and their effectiveness in different environmental contexts.
Promisingly, the correlation between higher soil concentration of calcium and lower levels of atmospheric carbon have been observed in other regions as well indicating that the findings in the Arctic could have much wider applications.
The study indicates that appropriate soil management can contribute to climate change mitigation and emerge as an effective strategy for curbing greenhouse gas emissions at a time when global temperatures are climbing rapidly.
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