Climate Science and Policy

As a region invested in both agriculture and sustainability, San Diego has the opportunity to further its role in climate resilience by expanding implementation of soil management practices throughout the county. While there are barriers that remain for on-the-ground implementation of carbon farming, recent advancements in climate modeling keep supportive economic policy make this an opportune time to make strides towards larger-scale implementation. With the growth of economic incentive programs, local, regional, and state agencies, and engaged citizen groups with the political will to take action, recently improved climate models need to be leveraged to inform more direct and effective efforts. San Diego can capitalize on these science-based decision support tools to understand the impacts of soil management for regional water resources and the opportunities to protect land for conservation of these agricultural opportunities. In doing so, the region can begin to scale out its carbon farming efforts, paving the way forward towards transforming the role of the agricultural sector as a major strategy in addressing the impacts of climate change.