Soil is a finite resource. The growing rate of land take and increasing loss of high-quality soil pose a threat for the intactness of ecosystems and our food security. Land sealing and soil degradation are resulting in a shortage of this resource and to harmful changes in soils. It prevents groundwater recharge and has a negative impact on biodiversity in soils. Climate change factors including rising temperatures and different precipitation levels affect soil quality. We must protect soils and safeguard them for future generations.
Whether it is greenery from the home garden or fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen, some waste is just too valuable to become residual waste. The compost heap at home can turn kitchen and garden waste into valuable humus. The German Environment Agency (UBA) has updated its manual on composting with hints and advice on how to make good compost.
The International Year of Soils has come to an end, but soil protection is far from reaching its aim.
In September 2015 the United Nations agreed upon the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They contain targets dealing with soil quality, restoration of degraded soil and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world. Yet, what options actually exist to estimate soil and land degradation on global level? This has now been examined by a new report.
The pace of environmental protection in the agriculture sector over the past 30 years has clearly been too slow. Many known problems such as high nitrogen inputs to soil and air remain unsolved despite improvements.
An event to mark the end of the International Year of Soils 2015 was hosted in Berlin by the German Environment and Development ministries jointly with the German Environment Agency and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. Under the heading “Soil – A source of life”, experts and policymakers discussed old and new soil protection tasks and challenges.
Whilst global demand for food and renewable raw materials is rising, the very basis for producing these – healthy, fertile soil – is under threat. It is estimated that 1.5 billion people are already affected by the consequences of this development. A coordinated global approach to protecting the vital resource ‘soil’ is therefore urgently necessary.
The aim of the research project “Resource-efficient land use – Towards a Global Sustainable Land Use Standard” was to spark a debate on the development of a standard for global sustainable land use, launch the requisite scientific process and explore and identify options for implementing a global sustainable land use.
Fertile soils are essential for life. Their preservation is set to become one of the United Nations’ global sustainability goals, under the heading “land degradation neutral world”. A legal study commissioned by UBA looked into how this goal could be implemented at international level.
A panel discussion on environmental risks and an effective environmental risk assessment of veterinary medicines will be held in Brussels, Belgium on 04 March 2015.
Life in all its multifarious forms would be unthinkable without the earth’s various soils, which can only assure a plentiful and healthy supply of food and drinking water if their ecology remains intact. But how can we best ensure that our soils are used judiciously and responsibly as habitats and resources? The UBA contributes to soil stewardship among other things by disseminating information.
