SUSTAINABLE SOIL MANAGEMENT THROUGH PROPER SOIL GOVERNANCE AND SOUND INVESTMENTS

Highlights of the The Status of the World's Soil Resources produced by FAO's Intergovernmental Technical Panel (State of the Art Report on Global and Regional Soil Information)

World Soil Day celebration & Closure of the International Year of Soils 2015

“Soils, a solid ground

for life” on Friday, 4 December 2015 at Sheikh Zayed Centre, FAO Headquarters, Rome

"Let us promote sustainable soil management rooted in proper soil governance and sound investments. Together, we can promote the cause of soils, a truly solid ground for life,"

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon message

"Further loss of productive soils would severely damage food production and food security, amplify food-price volatility, and potentially plunge millions of people into hunger and poverty. But the report also offers evidence that this loss of soil resources and functions can be avoided,"

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva message

Basis for food, feed, fuel and fibre production and for services to ecosystems and human well-being.

Reservoir for at least a quarter of global biodiversity, and therefore requires the same attention as above-ground biodiversity.

Play a key role in the supply of clean water and resilience to floods and droughts.

The largest store of terrestrial carbon is in the soil so that its preservation may contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Therefore, maintenance or enhancement of global soil resources is essential if humanity’s need for food, water, and energy security is to be met.

Soils are highly important

Soils are vital for producing nutritious crops and they filter and clean tens of thousands of cubic kilometres of water each year. As a major storehouse for carbon, soils also help regulate emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, thus are fundamental for regulating climate.

Yet the overwhelming conclusion of the report is that the majority of the world's soil resources are in only fair, poor or very poor condition and that conditions are getting worse in far more cases than they are improving. In particular, 33 percent of land is moderately to highly degraded due to erosion, salinization, compaction, acidification, and chemical pollution of soils.

Soils status worldwide

The world's soils are rapidly deteriorating due to

soil erosion,

nutrient depletion,

loss of soil organic carbon,

soil sealing and other threats

But this trend can be reversed provided countries take the lead in promoting sustainable management practices and the use of appropriate technologies

Soils are endangered, but the degradation can be rolled back

Erosion carries away 25 to 40 billion tonnes of topsoil every year, significantly reducing crop yields and the soil’s ability to store and cycle carbon, nutrients, and water. Annual cereal production losses due to erosion have been estimated at 7.6 million tonnes each year. If action is not taken to reduce erosion, a total reduction of over 253 million tonnes of cereals could be projected by 2050. This yield loss would be equivalent to removing 1.5 million square kilometres of land from crop production – or roughly all the arable land in India

Some of the report’s key findings

Lack of soil nutrients is the greatest obstacle to improving food production and soil function in many degraded landscapes. In Africa, all but three countries extract more nutrients from the soil each year than are returned through use of fertilizer, crop residues, manure, and other organic matter.

Some of the report’s key findings (contd.)

Accumulation of salts in the soil reduces crop yields and can completely eliminate crop production. Human-induced salinity affects an estimated 760,000 square kilometres of land worldwide – an area larger than all the arable land in Brazil.

Soil acidity is a serious constraint to food production worldwide. The most acidic top soils in the world are located in areas of South America that have experienced deforestation and intensive agriculture.

Some of the report’s key findings (contd.)

The report focuses on the 10 main threats to soil functions:

soil erosion,

soil organic carbon loss,

nutrient imbalance,

soil acidification,

soil contamination,

Achieving healthy soils

waterlogging,

soil compaction,

soil sealing,

salinization and

loss of soil biodiversity.

Achieving healthy soils (contd.)

The report notes a general consensus on soil-related strategies that can, on the one hand, increase the supply of food, while on the other, minimize harmful environmental impacts.

General consensus on soil-related strategies

The solution proposed is one that centres on sustainable soil management and which requires the participation of a broad level of stakeholders ranging from governments to small-holder farmers.

The solution proposed

Erosion, for example, can be curbed by reducing or eliminating tillage - digging, stirring, and overturning of soil - and using crop residues to protect the soil surface from the effects of rain and winds.

Examples

Similarly, soils suffering from nutrient deficits can be restored and yields increased by returning crop residues and other organic material to the soil, employing crop rotation with nitrogen-fixing crops, and making judicious use of organic and mineral fertilizers.

Examples (contd.)

Minimize further degradation of soils and restore the productivity of soils that are already degraded in regions where people are most vulnerable;

Stabilize global stores of soil organic matter, including both soil organic carbon and soil organisms;

Report identifies four priorities for action:

Stabilize or reduce global use of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer, while increasing fertilizer use in regions of nutrient deficiency; and,

Improve our knowledge about the state and trend of soil conditions.

Report identifies four priorities for action (contd.)

support for the development of soil information systems to monitor and forecast soil change;

increasing education and awareness on soil issues, by integrating these into formal education and across the curriculum - from geology to geography, from biology to economics.

investing in research development and extension, to develop test, disseminate sustainable soil management technologies and practices.

Need to be supported by targeted policies, including

introducing appropriate and effective regulation and incentives. This could include taxes that discourage harmful practices such as excessive use of fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides. Zoning systems can be used to protect the best agricultural soil from urban sprawl. Subsidies could be used to encourage people to purchase tools and other inputs that have a less harmful impact on soils, while certification of sustainable crop and livestock practices can make produce more commercially attractive at higher prices

Need to be supported by targeted policies, including

supporting achievement of local, regional and international food security by considering countries' soil resources and their capacities to manage them sustainably.

Need to be supported by targeted policies, including

Maintaining healthy soils required for feeding the growing population of the world and meeting their needs for biomass (energy), fibre, fodder, and other products can only be ensured through a strong partnership. This is one of the key guiding principles for the establishment of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP)

GLOBAL SOIL PARTNERSHIP

Maintaining healthy soils required for feeding the growing population of the world and meeting their needs for biomass (energy), fiber, fodder, and other products can only be ensured through a strong partnership. This is one of the key guiding principles for the establishment of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP)

GLOBAL SOIL PARTNERSHIP (contd.)

GLOBAL SOIL PARTNERSHIP (contd.)

5 pillars of action The Global Soil Partnership will support the process leading to the adoption of sustainable development goals for soils. It will contribute to environmental wellbeing through, for example, preventing soil erosion and degradation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting carbon sequestration and promoting sustainable use of agricultural inputs for soil health and ecosystems management. It will equally contribute to human wellbeing and social equity through improved use and governance of soil resources, finding alternatives to soil degrading practices through participatory experiential processes, and being sensitive to issues of gender and rights of indigenous peoples.

GLOBAL SOIL PARTNERSHIP (contd.)

5 pillars of action Promote sustainable management of soil resources for soil protection, conservation and sustainable productivity

Encourage investment, technical cooperation, policy, education awareness and extension in soil

Promote targeted soil research and development focusing on identified gaps and priorities and synergies with related productive, environmental and social development actions

GLOBAL SOIL PARTNERSHIP (contd.)

5 pillars of action

Enhance the quantity and quality of soil data and information: data collection (generation), analysis, validation, reporting, monitoring and integration with other disciplines

Harmonization of methods, measurements and indicators for the sustainable management and protection of soil resources

Healthy Soils Facility

The Healthy Soils Facility has been formulated in response to a specific request from the Plenary Assembly of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) at its first meeting of June 2013.

This Facility is meant to constitute a major “operational arm” of the GSP, and needs to operate in a context of major threats against limited soil resources in all regions and consequent urgent need for countries to take collective and individual action to reverse worrisome trends.

Healthy Soils Facility (contd.)

The Facility is designed to align resource partners (constituting an effective multi-partner platform) willing to join forces in support of the GSP, as it allows both for a cogent approach and full consistency with the GSP objectives.

Resource partners should be able to support those components and activities which correspond most closely to their own strategic and geographical preferences, while having the assurance that their contributions would be part of a global, coherent set of interventions.

Healthy Soils Facility (contd.)

The indicative lifetime of the Facility is to be about five years (at least initially) with a resource envelope envisaged at this stage at USD 64 million (for voluntary contributions from resource partners) to be completed by eventual “in-kind” contributions from GSP partners.

FAO through the Global Soil Partnership in collaboration with its member states and partner organizations is trying to create awareness and mobilize technical and financial resources for sustainable soil management through proper soil governance and sound investments.

Summary

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