Abstract
Soil health, along with water supply, is the most valuable resource for humans, as human life depends on the soil’s generosity. Soil degradation, therefore, poses a threat to food security, as it reduces yield, forces farmers to use more inputs, and may eventually lead to soil abandonment. Unfortunately, the importance of preserving soil health appears to be overlooked by policy makers. In this paper, I first briefly introduce the present situation concerning agricultural production, natural resources, soil degradation, land use and the challenge ahead, to show how these issues are strictly interwoven. Then, I define soil degradation and present a review of its typologies and estimates at a global level. I discuss the importance of preserving soil capital, and its relationship to human civilization and food security. Trends concerning the availability of arable agricultural land, different scenarios, and their limitations, are analyzed and discussed. The possible relation between an increase in a country’s GNP, population and future availability of arable land is also analyzed, using the World Bank’s database. I argue that because of the many sources of uncertainty in the data, and the high risks at stake, a precautionary approach should be adopted when drawing scenarios. The paper ends with a discussion on the key role of preserving soil organic matter, and the need to adopt more sustainable agricultural practices. I also argue that both our relation with nature and natural resources and our lifestyle need to be reconsidered.
Highlights
The Key Priority Represented by Soil ConservationThe 68th UN General Assembly declared 2015 the International Year of Soils (IYS) [1]
‚ the sustainability of soils is key to addressing the pressures of a growing population, ‚ the sustainable management of soils can contribute to healthy soils and to a food-secure world and to stable and sustainably used ecosystems, ‚ good land management is of economic and social significance, and this includes soil management, for its contribution towards economic growth, biodiversity, sustainable agriculture and food security, which in turn are key to eradicating poverty and allowing women’s empowerment, ‚ it is urgent to address issues such as climate change, water availability, desertification, land degradation and drought, as they pose global challenges
Ecological economics distinguishes human-made capital and natural capital as a stock that yields a flow of natural services and tangible natural resources [113]
Summary
The 68th UN General Assembly declared 2015 the International Year of Soils (IYS) [1]. We have to praise the UN and FAO for this much-needed initiative aimed at reminding us about how our life is inescapably dependent on soil and natural resources. This is a fact that urbanized people often tend to forget as they live, culturally and physically, far away from the land, the soil and the food system. Within the activities undertaken in relation to the International Year of Soils, FAO and the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS) released an important report on the status of soils and related issues [14] This is the first such report on this topic, and aims at raising awareness amongst both policy makers and lay people. The optimism of the 1970s and 1980s, following the great achievements associated with the green revolution, namely the rise in productivity in Mexico and India, had to face the problems associated with the increasing pressure the “revolution” created on finite soil, water, and other natural resources [15,16,17,18,19]
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