World's soils are under threat

• DOI: 10.5194/soild-2-1263-2015
• Publication Date: 2015-12-09T17:46:54Z
• Authors: L. Montanarella; D. J. Pennock; N. J. McKenzie; M. Badraoui; V. Chude; I. Baptista; T. Mamo; M. Yemefack; M. Singh Aulakh; K. Yagi; S. Young Hong; P. Vijarnsorn; G.-L. Zhang; D. Arrouays; H. Black; P. Krasilnikov; J. Sobocká; J. Alegre; C. R. Henriquez; M. L. Mendonça-Sa...; M. Taboada; D. Espinosa-Victoria; A. AlShankiti; S. K. AlaviPanah; E. A. E. Elsheikh; J. Hempel; M. Camps Arbestain; F. Nachtergaele; R. Vargas
• Keywords: 550; Economics; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; Environmental protection; 630; sciences du sol; Agricultural and Biological Sciences; soil degradation; Natural resource economics; Soil health; Soil water; 11. Sustainability; GE1-350; Soil Erosion; 2. Zero hunger; QE1-996.5; soil fertility; 1. No poverty; Life Sciences; Geology; 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences; menace; Soil carbon; Soil Erosion and Agricultural Sustainability; 6. Clean water; climate change; Water quality; GlobalSoilMap; Soil Degradation; Soil Science; Environmental science; Soil quality; 12. Responsible consumption; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/4.1; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/4; soil resources; Soil Carbon Sequestration; Soil science; Soil organic matter; Soil Fertility; crop yield; 15. Life on land; Soil resources; soil sciences; Environmental sciences; soil organic; soil threat; 13. Climate action; Soil erosion; Soils; 0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; Soil governance; Soil Carbon Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling in Ecosystems

Abstract. The Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils has completed the first State of the World's Soil Resources report. Globally soil erosion was identified as the gravest threat, leading to deteriorating water quality in developed regions and to lowering of crop yields in many developing regions. We need to increase nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer use in infertile tropical and semi-tropical soils – the regions where the most food insecure among us are found – while reducing global use of these products overall. Stores of soil organic carbon are critical in the global carbon balance, and national governments must set specific targets to stabilize or ideally increase soil organic carbon stores. Finally the quality of soil information available for policy formulation must be improved – the regional assessments in the SWSR report frequently base their evaluations on studies from the 1990s based on observations made in the 1980s or earlier.