About the event

Professor Martin Lukac from Reading University will discuss the role of carbon in soils and the potential for increasing the amount being stored.

All gardeners know that organic matter in the soil improves its structure, nutrients and water management, but the soil can hold much  more carbon than available from the home compost heap.

There is urgent need to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it for the long term. With limited space for extensive tree planting in towns, the soil is the only carbon storage option with sufficient capacity.

Adding carbon to urban soils not only removes it from the atmosphere, but also supports their life and function and can improve the resilience of vascular plants to more extreme weather conditions.