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Spare our restored soil

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The conversion of poor-quality arable lands to grassland has prevented soil erosion and sequestered carbon. A study finds that greenhouse gases will be emitted if these lands return to cultivation, especially if they are ploughed.

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Figure 1: Land-use change influences greenhouse-gas fluxes from soils to the atmosphere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johan Six is in the Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH-Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.,

    Johan Six

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  1. Johan Six
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Correspondence to Johan Six.

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Six, J. Spare our restored soil. Nature 498, 180–181 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/498180a

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