New atlas underlines significant role of northern soils in climate change

Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn will today at the European Parliament (18h15) launch a Soil Atlas of the world's northernmost regions, where more than half the carbon present in the Earth's soils is stored. She will simultaneously inaugurate an exhibition on the work of the Commission's Joint Research Centre, which produced the Atlas. It covers regions above the latitude of 50° N, which represent 16% of global land surface.