[en] The role of the world's soils and their organic matter content is highlighted against the backdrop of an anticipated anthropogenic climate change. Contrary to many recent publications, it is argued that the hazards of their degradation, under a transient scenario of global change, may diminish rather than increase. Terrestrial carbon sequestration, through the buildup of organic matter in soils, makes sense in its own right. Possibilities for restoring depleted organic matter levels are reviewed and special attention is given to historic examples of sustained doubling of soil carbon content, both in northwestern Europe and in the tropics. A plea is made to carry out research on the processes that have caused such a sustainable improvement in soil fertility with a view to emulating this for soils of the moist savannah zones of sub-Saharan Africa. A proposal is then made to make this operational in the onchocerciasis freed zone of West Africa, in combination with a recent World Bank initiative for large scale rock phosphate applications in tropical soils as a capital investment in integrated natural resources management - as a 'win-win' situation of increasing agricultural productivity in developing countries and of protecting global environmental conditions. (author). 27 refs, 3 figs