Global Soil Week
Rounding up this year's Global Soil Week, DW takes a look at why soil is one of our most important natural resources, and how we can go about protecting it.
Soil: our foundation
Taking place last year for the first time, Global Soil Week is wrapping up again in Berlin at the moment. Soil is at the base of everything we need to survive as humans. Rich in minerals and nutrients, soil contains a mixture of air, water, decaying matter and living organisms. In fact, the solution to many of the environmental issues our society faces today, could lie under our feet.
Storing carbon
Soil is formed over thousands of years as rocks decompose. For this reason it contains a huge amount of carbon. Ensuring that this carbon is not released can protect the environment. With responsible management, soil can act as a carbon sink to counteract climate change. This happens through photosynthesis, as plants take in carbon from the atmosphere which is then stored in the soil.
Losing ground
As the world’s population increases, huge areas of land are being lost to urbanization. In Europe alone, an area as large as Berlin is transformed into urban space every year. Concrete is poured over large areas of soil, meaning its potential as a natural resource is lost. This process, known as "soil sealing," is difficult to reverse.
Soil Week 2013
Soil experts from 70 countries gathered this week in Berlin to discuss how best to protect soils for the future. Here, delegates break up soil sealed by concrete and plant it with vegetables. Around the world, soils are vanishing that are vitally important for producing food, absorbing and filtering water, storing carbon and – particularly in cities – filtering pollutants from the air.
Food security
With one in eight inhabitants of the world suffering from hunger, ensuring soil is managed sustainably is vital for global food security. Rapid population growth is putting soil under increasing pressure. To meet the growing demand for food, farmers in the future will have to increase their food production by some 50 percent, some experts estimate.
Land degradation
Soil’s potential can be lost through poor land management. This could involve cutting down forests, overgrazing, overuse of fertilisers and chemicals, or farming on sloping ground which leads to soil erosion. Poor land management can often result from a lack of knowledge and is seen most often in poor rural areas where farmers often have no choice.
Livelihoods drying up
Vast areas of China have been affected by desertification, a process in which fertile land is transformed into desert. According to China’s State Forestry Administration, over a quarter of the country suffers from the problem. Rural farmers are caught in a water-food conundrum: water is needed to grow more crops, yet overusing farmland makes the soil there more prone to drying up faster.
Organic progress
On the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, chemical fertilizers provide farmers with bigger and more reliable crops. However, in some areas the soil and groundwater have been damaged. Now the government is offering subsidies on organic compost in an effort to rescue the soil. The improved output has shown that compost can be an effective way to combat chemical farming methods.
Ancient techniques
Some examples of good land management are still being practised by farmers after thousands of years of success. Rotating crops and contour ploughing are two traditional farming methods which are still used to protect the soil. Farmers also sometimes plant 'cover crops' too, plants that restore carbon into the soil and which are then ploughed under the surface as a compost for the next yield.