The role of South American grazing lands in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. A reply to: ?Reassessing the role of grazing lands in carbon-balance estimations: Meta-analysis and review?, by Viglizzo et al., (2019)

VILLARINO, S.H.; JOBBÁGY, E.G; CONTI, G; BODDEY, R.; FERNANDEZ, R; OYHANTCABAL, W.; PIÑEIRO, G.; PINTO P.; STUDDERT, G.A.; RUFINO, M.; BAYER, C; LATTANZI, F; PARUELO J.M; DELLA CHIESA, T.; BAZZONI, B.; ALVAREZ, R.; CARVALHO, P; OESTERHELD, M.; PRAVIA, V

SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2020 vol. 740 p. 108 - 140

0048-9697

The paper by Viglizzo et al. (2019) "Reassessing the role of grazing lands in carbon-balance estimations: Meta-analysis and review" proposed a new methodology to assess changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stock associated with land use, and applied it to four countries of South America: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, all members of the MERCOSUR trade bloc. One finding of their assessment was that grazing lands are currently accumulating SOC at rates high enough to"... generate C surpluses that could not only offset rural emissions, but could alsopartially or totally offset the emissions of non-rural sectors".