Alice Luneau

UMR LESSEM et PACTE

PhD student / Nov 2025 to Oct 2028

Protecting soils for climate mitigation? An investigation into territorial governance frameworks for carbon storage in agricultural soils

Long marginalised by surface‑level land‑tenure and socio‑political concerns, soils are now experiencing renewed visibility across disciplines, including the social sciences. The 2015 Paris Agreement marked a significant shift by positioning soils as key carbon sinks within climate‑policy frameworks. Traditionally considered mainly for their agricultural fertility, soils are increasingly framed as a global subterranean carbon reservoir requiring evaluation, management, and protection. Yet the adoption of carbon‑enhancing practices by farmers remains shaped—and often limited—by existing economic incentives and legal structures.

This doctoral research aims to analyse, within the French context, the conditions for developing territorial governance arrangements that promote the preservation or restoration of agricultural‑soil quality based on their carbon‑sequestration potential, while critically examining the risks of policy framings that would reduce soils to a single climate‑mitigation function.