Ensuring Soil Security to Secure Our Planetary Future$

Abstract

Turning the dirt, we have cultivated back into soil is critical to securing our planetary future. The world’s principal existential challenges – food, water and energy security, climate change abatement, biodiversity protection and human health1 – are all underpinned by soil dysfunction. Yet, little is known about soil function, soil services and threats to soil, or how the state of our soils, determined by land use and land management, cause desertification and climate change. As greenhouse gases are transparent to incoming solar radiation, we must mitigate excess atmospheric heat by reducing the amount of organic matter mined from the soil, because when the sun’s rays fall on exposed, drained, baked dry soil, most of the solar radiation is converted from latent heat to sensible heat. Soil specific policy and legislation must be developed to regulate sources of excess sensible heat, consistent with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Through soil security, we can deliver a better present and safeguard our planetary future.