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Mangrove forests provide critical soil-related ecosystem services (ES), including carbon sequestration, contaminant retention, and nutrient cycling—all closely linked to soil health. However, land-use change and pollution increasingly threaten mangrove soils, compromising their functionality and ES provision. To reverse these impacts, effective strategies must begin with robust assessments of soil health using key indicators that also reflect ecosystem functions. Despite their importance, soil health indexing methods for mangroves remain underdeveloped. This study proposes a soil health index (SHI) for mangrove ecosystems, applied in northeastern Brazil across degraded, restoring (9 and 13 years), and mature forests. We assessed variables linked to biogeochemical processes governing carbon dynamics (soil texture, soil organic carbon - SOC, pseudo-total Fe), contaminant immobilization (exchangeable, carbonate-bound, oxyhydroxide-bound, and pyritic Fe, redox potential, and pH), and nutrient cycling (β-glucosidase, acid phosphatase, and available phosphorus). SHI was constructed using a minimal dataset selected via principal component analysis. Mature mangroves showed the highest SHI values (0.99 ± 0.03), while degraded sites had the lowest (0.25 ± 0.01). Replanted areas displayed intermediate SHI values (0.37 ± 0.01 at 9 years; 0.52 ± 0.02 at 13 years), indicating gradual recovery. ES provision estimates followed the same trend. The SHI effectively captured soil health changes across degradation and restoration gradients and is a promising tool to inform decision-makers, support conservation planning, and communicate complex data in accessible formats. This approach strengthens links between science, restoration action, and ecosystem service outcomes.

Socio-economic progress relies on critical soil ecosystem services, yet Latin American and Caribbean soils face considerable pressures. Here we assess soil health across the region using remote sensing data processed with cloud-based machine learning to create high-resolution maps (90 m) of a soil health index. This index integrates weighted physical, chemical, and biological indicators, such as total porosity, plant-available water, and carbon stock. Based on five soil functions, which involve water and nutrient fluxes, carbon sequestration, and supporting plant growth, we found that 38% of soils are classified as unhealthy, 28% as moderate, and 34% as healthy. Unhealthy soils dominate drylands and savannas with frequent surface exposure, while humid equatorial zones exhibit healthier conditions. Notably, the Amazon basin registers medium-low soil health, underscoring the urgent need for conservation. Our findings offer a robust framework for soil protection policies and restoration strategies to enhance sustainability and ecosystem resilience. Approximately 38% of Latin America and the Caribbean soils are unhealthy, considering indicators such as plant-available water, total porosity, and carbon stock, according to a study using high-resolution remote sensing data and soil science informed modelling.

Bioenergy is an important and feasible option for mitigating global warming and climate change. However, large-scale land-use change (LUC) to expand bioenergy crops, such as sugarcane, raises concerns about the potential negative environmental and socioeconomic side effects. Such effects are context-specific, and depending on the LUC scenario and management practices, several co-benefits can be attained. We reviewed the literature and discussed how LUC and best management practices affect key components of sustainability (e.g., soil health, soil carbon (C) sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions, nutrient cycling, water quality, among others) of sugarcane-derived bioenergy production in Brazil. Sugarcane expansion has occurred predominantly over pasture areas, although converting croplands could be also an environmentally feasible option. The land transition from low-productivity pastures to sugarcane cultivation seems to be a sustainable pathway to increase bioenergy production. This LUC scenario enhances soil health and soil C sequestration over time, although soil compaction, biodiversity loss, and erosion are still challenging. Besides, adopting best management practices, such as conservation tillage, sustainable crop residue management, rational fertilization, and recycling by-products, has been fundamental to ensuring sustainable bioenergy production. Public policies and well-designed legal frameworks and regulations, such as the Forest Code and the RenovaBio legislations in Brazil, are necessary to make bioenergy production compatible with rational land use and protection. Lastly, our analysis provided insights into sugarcane expansion over a small proportion (1%) of pasture areas in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) and sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, which may result in a substantial impact on global bioenergy supply. We concluded that sugarcane-derived bioenergy is a sustainable option to tackle climate change while provisioning other key ecosystem services and promoting socioeconomic development.

The recognition of bioethanol as a key strategy for mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is closely linked to the accuracy of N2O emission factors (EF) used in life cycle assessments. However, previous studies have shown that the default N2O EF values recommended by the IPCC do not accurately reflect the diverse edaphoclimatic conditions found in Brazil, leading to uncertainties in GHG inventories. Therefore, establishing regional N2O EF is essential for improving the precision of bioethanol emission estimates. In this study, we conducted a systematic literature review compiling 293 measurements from 45 field studies across different regions of Brazil. This study focuses on sugarcane (20 studies) and corn (25 studies), which are the primary crops used for bioethanol production in Brazil. Our findings indicate that the average N2O EF for these crops is 0.72%, lower than the value reported for the tropics and sub‐tropics (1.6%). When analyzed separately, sugarcane showed an average N2O EF of 0.65%, with higher emissions from the combined use of mineral and organic N fertilizers (0.79%) compared to mineral (0.55%) or organic fertilizers alone (0.77%). For corn, the average N2O EF was 0.84%, with mineral N fertilizers presenting the lowest EF (0.40%), while emissions increased with the combination of mineral and organic sources (0.82%), reaching the highest levels with pig slurry application (1.72%). These variations highlight the limitations of using IPCC default values for mineral and organic N fertilizers in Brazil. Our results reinforce the need for Tier 2 methodologies incorporating region‐specific data to enhance GHG inventory accuracy and support targeted mitigation strategies. Although Brazil's latitudinal range spans tropical and subtropical zones, regional stratification was not applied due to the limited number of studies within each climate category, especially when further disaggregated by crop type and N fertilizer source. Despite covering key crops, fertilizer types, and multiple biomes, the current dataset still lacks representation for important agricultural regions such as Brazil's midwest, north, and northeast regions. This study represents a significant step toward refining N2O EF estimates for bioethanol crops, contributing to more precise assessments of the sector's climate impact. However, further research is needed to cover underrepresented areas, understand long‐term field dynamics, and evaluate other crop systems and management practices. Future studies should also incorporate modeling tools and real‐time monitoring to reduce uncertainties and support the development of Tier 3 estimates. Our findings show that the average EF for mineral fertilizers is lower than the IPCC defaults, with variation depending on crop and fertilizer type, highlighting the need for Tier 2 methodologies using region‐specific data to improve greenhouse gas inventories. Although this study is a key step in refining N2O estimates, data gaps remain in several regions, underscoring the need for further research and long‐term monitoring.

Biofuels are essential to ensure the energy transition and mitigating of climate change. However, understanding the impact of land use change (LUC) and management practices on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks is fundamental to ensuring well‐founded policymaking and assessing the sector's carbon footprint. Here, we conducted a meta‐analysis (511 pairwise observations) to obtain Brazil's SOC stock change factors (SOCscf) for LUC and management practices in sugarcane fields. Our results showed that converting native vegetation to sugarcane reduced the SOC stock in all assessed periods. The conversion from annual crops to sugarcane showed a reduction in SOC stock in the first 10 years but with a recovery over time. The conversion of pasture to sugarcane reduced the SOC stock only in the 10–20‐year period and had a neutral effect in other periods evaluated. However, our dataset showed high variability in SOCscf, with many observations indicating an increase in SOC stock, which is related to degraded pastures. We observed that the SOC accumulation rate for each ton of sugarcane straw was affected by the interaction between soil texture and precipitation. Regarding straw management, a low removal rate (< 34%) did not affect the SOC stock, while moderate (34%–66%) and high (> 66%) removal resulted in losses of 5.0% (SOCscf 0.950) and 9.9% (SOCscf 0.901), respectively. Our results also showed that reduced tillage and vinasse application increased SOC stocks by 24.0% (SOCscf 1.24) and 10.0% (SOCscf 1.10) respectively, proving to be good strategies to support C sequestration in sugarcane fields. Finally, we highlight that our results can contribute to the improvement of public policies and also be used in future life cycle assessment (LCA) and modeling studies, as they provide robust data to establishing regional SOCscf induced by LUC and management practices, enhancing the reliability of the C footprint assessment of biofuel production. In the 2000s, sugarcane acreage boomed in Brazil due to increased bioethanol consumption by flex‐fuel vehicles, raising sustainability concerns about soil organic carbon (SOC) losses from land‐use changes and management practices. The industrial use of straw for 2G ethanol and electricity also sparked worries. Despite numerous studies, information remains scattered. Our study summarized the literature and derived regional factors of SOC stock changes for sugarcane cultivation in Brazil. This represents a step forward in understanding the impact of sugarcane on soil carbon and can aid scientists and policymakers.

Soybean biodiesel (B100) has been playing an important role in Brazilian energy matrix towards the national bio-based economy. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is the most widely used indicator for assessing the environmental sustainability of biodiesels and received particular attention among decision makers in business and politics, as well as consumers. Former studies have been mainly focused on the GHG emissions from the soybean cultivation, excluding other stages of the biodiesel production. Here, we present a holistic view of the total GHG emissions in four life cycle stages for soybean biodiesel. The aim of this study was to assess the GHG emissions of Brazilian soybean biodiesel production system with an integrated life cycle approach of four stages: agriculture, extraction, production and distribution. Allocation of mass and energy was applied and special attention was paid to the integrated and non-integrated industrial production chain. The results indicated that the largest source of GHG emissions, among four life cycle stages, is the agricultural stage (42-51%) for B100 produced in integrated systems and the production stage (46-52%) for B100 produced in non-integrated systems. Integration of industrial units resulted in significant reduction in life cycle GHG emissions. Without the consideration of LUC and assuming biogenic CO2 emissions is carbon neutral in our study, the calculated life cycle GHG emissions for domestic soybean biodiesel varied from 23.1 to 25.8 gCO2eq. MJ-1 B100 and those for soybean biodiesel exported to EU ranged from 26.5 to 29.2 gCO2eq. MJ-1 B100, which represent reductions by 65% up to 72% (depending on the delivery route) of GHG emissions compared with the EU benchmark for diesel fuel. Our findings from a life cycle perspective contributed to identify the major GHG sources in Brazilian soybean biodiesel production system and they can be used to guide mitigation priority for policy and decision-making. Projected scenarios in this study would be taken as references for accounting the environmental sustainability of soybean biodiesel within a domestic and global level.

Important among global issues is the trilemma of abrupt climate change, food insecurity, and environmental degradation. Despite the increasing use of fossil fuel, about one third of global C emissions come from tropical deforestation and indiscriminate use of agricultural practices. Global food insecurity, affecting one in seven persons, aggravates environmental degradation. The importance of judicious land use and soil sustainability in addressing the trilemma cannot be overemphasized. While intensifying agronomic production on existing land, it is also essential to identify suitable eco-regions for bringing new land under production. Based on 35-years of data from Brazil, we report that C emissions from agroecosystems are 4 to 5.5 times greater by bringing new land under production in Amazon than in the Cerrado for pastures and cropland production, respectively. The data presented indicate that agricultural intensification is feasible in the Cerrado, and the forest in Rondônia and Mato Grosso states must be protected and restored for nature conservancy. Now is the time to think beyond COP 21—Paris 2015 and take concrete actions to address these issues of global significance.

Phosphorus (P) use in global food and bioenergy production needs to become more efficient and sustainable to reduce environmental impacts and conserve a finite and critical resource (Carpenter & Bennett, Environmental Research Letters, 2011, 6, 014009; Springmann et al., Nature, 2018, 562, 519). Sugarcane is one crop with a large P footprint because production is centered on P‐fixing soils with low P availability (Roy et al., Nature Plants, 2016, 2, 16043; Withers et al., Scientific Reports, 2018, 8, 2537). As global demand for processed sugar and bioethanol continues to increase, we advocate that improving P efficiency could become a key sustainability goal for the sugarcane industry. Here, we applied the 5R global P stewardship framework (Withers et al., Ambio, 2015, 44, 193) to identify more sustainable options to manage P in Brazilian sugarcane production. We show that current inputs of P fertilizer to the current crop area could be reduced by over 305 Gg, or 63%, over the next three decades by reducing unnecessary P fertilizer use, better utilization of recyclable bioresources and redesigning recommendation systems. Adoption of these 5R options would save the sugarcane industry in Brazil 528 US $ million and help safeguard global food and energy security. Improving phosphorus efficiency could become a key sustainability goal for the sugarcane industry. Here, we applied the 5R global phosphorus stewardship framework to identify more sustainable options to manage phosphorus in Brazilian sugarcane production. We show that current inputs of phosphorus fertilizer to this crop could be reduced by over 305 Gg, or 63%, over the next three decades by reducing unnecessary phosphorus fertilizer use, better utilization of recyclable bioresources and redesigning recommendation systems. Adoption of these 5R options would save the sugarcane industry in Brazil 528 US$million and help safeguard global food and energy security.

Sugarcane straw removal for bioenergy production—especially second‐generation ethanol—is shown to be a promising pathway for decarbonization. However, indiscriminate straw removal can negatively affect soil‐related ecosystem services (SES), compromising the sustainability of the associated bioenergy production. Here, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to select and quantify the changes in agronomic and environmental indicators affected by low (≤ 1/3), moderate (> 1/3 to ≤ 2/3), and high (> 2/3) straw removal levels and the consequential impacts on eight SES. A quali‐quantitative approach was developed to generate an impact matrix that provides the direction of the effects (negative, neutral, or positive) and the associated confidence levels. Overall, the lowest impact on SES occurs under low straw removal with a neutral effect on C storage, nutrient cycling, weed control, greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, and provision of food and bioenergy. Water regulation, erosion control, and maintenance of soil biodiversity were the SES most negatively affected by straw removal. Moderate and high levels of straw removal negatively impact the maintenance of SES and compromise the sustainability of sugarcane cultivation areas, except for pest control and soil GHG emission mitigation. Finally, it was also discussed how the negative impacts of straw removal on SES could be mitigated or even reversed through the adoption of best management practices, such as cover crops, organic amendments, biological products (e.g., use of phosphate‐solubilizing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi), reduced tillage, and machinery traffic control. Ultimately, the results of this study can be useful to guide decision‐making by farmers, investors, stakeholders, and policymakers toward sustainable bioenergy production that contributes to a low‐carbon economy and climate change mitigation. Sugarcane straw removal for bioenergy production is a promising pathway for decarbonization. However, its indiscriminate removal may negatively impact soil‐related ecosystem services (SES) and compromise the sustainability of bioenergy production. Our study evaluated 1024 pairwise comparisons to determine the effect and confidence level of three straw removal levels on eight SES (C storage, water regulation and erosion control, nutrient cycling, soil biodiversity, pest control, weed control, GHG mitigation, and food and bioenergy provision). Our impact matrix associated with straw removal should be useful in guiding decision‐makers toward sustainable bioenergy production and contributing to a low‐carbon economy and climate change mitigation.

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) straw has been identified as a valuable asset for bioenergy production, but it is also a primary carbon input for sustaining soil resources. Therefore, excessive removal of this crop residue can potentially decrease soil organic carbon (SOC) and have negative environmental consequences. Most crop residue management studies focus on site‐specific responses which are important, but do not provide comprehensive assessments across the multiple edaphoclimatic conditions needed by decision makers to guide sustainable sugarcane straw management. Temporal modifications in SOC stocks induced by straw removal were quantified in 10 field experiments located in south‐central of Brazil. Each field experiment was arranged in a randomized block design with four replications, including four straw removal rates: total (TR), high (HR), low (LR) and no removal (NR). Soil sampling was performed to a 30 cm depth at the trial establishment (baseline) and after 2 and 4 consecutive years of straw removal. The data indicate that about 19% and 25% of the C added via straw were retained in areas of sandy and clay soils, respectively, and show that excessive removal rates depleted SOC stocks across the evaluated sites. Furthermore, regardless of removal rate, maintenance of straw on sandy soils was not sufficient to sustain SOC stocks, which were depleted by 2.3, 1.9, 1.5, and 1.4 Mg ha−1 year−1 for the TR, HR, LR, and NR. Our measured data provide scientific information to support policy and management decisions for straw‐derived bioenergy in Brazil. They also suggest straw removal from clay soils will be less deleterious to SOC stocks than from sandy soils, where removal should be avoided. Changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks were quantified in ten field experiments of Brazil after two and four consecutive years of sugarcane straw removal. Our results confirm that sugarcane straw is an important C input, which about 19% and 25% of the C added via straw was incorporated into the SOC stocks in sandy and clay soils, respectively, and the excessive removal rates depleted SOC stocks. Regardless of removal rate, maintenance of straw on sandy soils was not sufficient to sustain SOC stocks, and straw removal from clay soils was less deleterious to SOC stocks than from sandy soils.