Why the fate of our planet’s environment depends on the state of its soil
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UNCCD Library
In 1937, Franklin Roosevelt, then president of the US, wrote to state governors in the wake of the “dust bowl” catastrophe, where drought across the Southern Plains led to catastrophic famine and dust storms. “The nation that destroys its soils destroys itself,” he wrote, highlighting what remains a fundamental truth: that the state of the Earth’s soil is a vital indicator of the planet’s health.
As a society, we do not place sufficient value on the ground beneath our feet. The use of the word “dirt” to denote inferiority is an example of this disrespect for our land. Yet societies succeed and fail as a direct consequence of the value they place on their soils.
Our soil not only directly or indirectly provides most of our food, but it’s also central to our planet’s life-support system. Soil is an integral component of the carbon, water and nutrient cycles, which allow organisms of all sizes to to thrive.
When plants and animals decompose, their bodies release nutrients into the soil for subsequent generations of organisms to use and recycle. Soils store, filter and purify our water, helping to protect against flash flooding through absorbing rainwater. And soils are critical for carbon storage, helping buffer our climate against the effects of human-driven carbon emissions. There is an estimated three times more carbon in our soils than in Earth’s atmosphere.
But these ecosystem services are fragile and can easily break down. By mistreating soil through deep ploughing (which damages soil structure) and using harsh chemicals (which kill important microbe communities), many of our soils are now degraded. It’s estimated that one-third of our agricultural soils have been lost over the past 40 years.
This reduces our ability to produce high-quality food. Soils in poor condition can require more fertiliser, since they cannot trap nitrogen and phosphorus. Manufacturing nitrogen fertiliser to make up for this is a significant source of carbon emissions: nearly 600g of CO₂ is produced in making an 800g loaf of bread, with 43% of these emissions arising from nitrogen fertiliser alone. Read further from the source
As a society, we do not place sufficient value on the ground beneath our feet. The use of the word “dirt” to denote inferiority is an example of this disrespect for our land. Yet societies succeed and fail as a direct consequence of the value they place on their soils.
Our soil not only directly or indirectly provides most of our food, but it’s also central to our planet’s life-support system. Soil is an integral component of the carbon, water and nutrient cycles, which allow organisms of all sizes to to thrive.
When plants and animals decompose, their bodies release nutrients into the soil for subsequent generations of organisms to use and recycle. Soils store, filter and purify our water, helping to protect against flash flooding through absorbing rainwater. And soils are critical for carbon storage, helping buffer our climate against the effects of human-driven carbon emissions. There is an estimated three times more carbon in our soils than in Earth’s atmosphere.
But these ecosystem services are fragile and can easily break down. By mistreating soil through deep ploughing (which damages soil structure) and using harsh chemicals (which kill important microbe communities), many of our soils are now degraded. It’s estimated that one-third of our agricultural soils have been lost over the past 40 years.
This reduces our ability to produce high-quality food. Soils in poor condition can require more fertiliser, since they cannot trap nitrogen and phosphorus. Manufacturing nitrogen fertiliser to make up for this is a significant source of carbon emissions: nearly 600g of CO₂ is produced in making an 800g loaf of bread, with 43% of these emissions arising from nitrogen fertiliser alone. Read further from the source
Keywords
soil conservation
soil degradation
drought
dust storms
food security
soil carbon
fertilizer use
facts and figures
agriculture
farming systems