Year: 2015
Type: book
Abstract: It is important to do exactly that.Soils are the basis of our food production.They supply plants with nutrients and water.Those nutrients are an ingredient in every potato, every loaf of bread, every grain of rice and every plate of cornmeal we eatand in every pork chop and roast chicken too.Without healthy soils, it is not possible to produce healthy food.But soils do not just produce food: they do many other things too.They filter rainwater and turn it into clean drinking water.They regulate the climate, for after the oceans, the soil is the world's largest carbon sink: it stores more carbon than all the world's forests put together.And soils are teeming with life!A handful of earth contains more organisms than the planet's entire human population.Two-thirds of all species live hidden below the surface.The international community has set itself three important goals: to stop the loss of biodiversity, keep global warming to 2° Celsius, and ensure everyone has the right to adequate food.Without fertile soil, none of these objectives will be achieved.For the soil can do its job only if the life it contains is intact, the humus layer is healthy, and land rights are protected.Despite the vital functions it performs, we fail to protect the soil.Through misuse, we lose something like 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil every year.There are various reasons for this loss.Cities and roads are spreading.Asphalt and concrete seal the surface and damage fertile soil irreparably.A falling population does not stop the damage: in Germany, 77 hectares of soil lose some or all of their functions every day.That is the size of 100 football pitches that are no longer available to grow food.Farming, which is so dependent on the quality of the soil, bears its share of the blame.
Authors: Christine Chemnitz, Jes Weigelt
Institution: Research Institute for Sustainability at GFZ
Language: English
Subfield: Soil Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7024817697