Challenges for achieving sustainable soil management.

 

Soils have diverse chemical, physical and biological properties. As a consequence, they differ in their responses to management practices, their inherent ability to deliver ecosystem services, as well as their resilience to disturbance and vulnerability to degradation. The Status of the World’s Soil Resources report identified ten key threats that hamper the achievement of SSM.

These threats are: soil erosion by water and wind, soil organic carbon loss, soil nutrient imbalance, soil salinization, soil contamination, acidification, loss of soil biodiversity, soil sealing, soil compaction and waterlogging. These different threats vary in terms of intensity and trend depending on geographical contexts, though they all need to be addressed in order to achieve sustainable soil management. SSM shall contribute to addressing global challenges, and meeting international commitments, including: 

• the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, where SSM could directly or indirectly contribute to achieving several of the agreed goals and targets; 

• the Zero Hunger Challenge (to end hunger and malnutrition and assure food security for a growing population); 

• climate change adaptation and mitigation, especially in the light of the Paris Agreement adopted at the UNFCCC COP21, which embodies a strong commitment to address climate change and give agriculture a prominent role in that process; 

• the commitment to combat desertification and mitigate effects of drought, especially the strive to achieve a land degradation neutral world, taking note of the potential benefits for all as per the last UNCCD COP12; 

• the Aichi targets which underline an important agenda to preserve biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services; • securing land tenure under the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance ofTenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT). This context points to major opportunities to promote SSM. Taking the above into account, an enabling environment for promoting SSM is fostered by the following core actions: 

• Establishing or strengthening inclusive SSM-supportive agricultural/environmental policies Where appropriate, inclusive policies to promote SSM should be linked to agricultural and environmental policies, so that their implementation provides multiple benefits. If existing, these policies can be reviewed, as appropriate, to mainstream SSM.

 • Increasing responsible investment and positive incentives aimed at promoting sustainable soil management - Where appropriate, responsible investment in SSM according to the Principles forResponsible Investments in Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-RAI) should be increased. Provision of positive incentives to those stakeholders who implement SSM principles while recognizing the value of ecosystem services could be envisaged.

• Promoting secure land tenure rights according to the VGGT SSM is affected by secure land tenure rights being in place or not. Access and tenure rights are an important factor for SSM to be properly implemented by land users and to enable long-term planning. 

• Fostering and strengthening targeted soil research - It is imperative that investment in soil research is increased to enable national research programs and their partners to work with land users to identify and address the constraints they face in increasing the ecosystem services provided by soils (i.e. soil productivity). 

• Preventing or minimizing soil degradation and restoring/rehabilitating degraded soils (including historically degraded soils) - Soil degradation shall be minimized using SSM, especially through soil conservation approaches that proved to be successful. Soil rehabilitation and/or soil restoration should also be a priority, returning degraded soils to productivity, especially in historically sound agriculture or other production systems currently under threat. 

• Promoting effective education programmes - Where appropriate, education on soils (formal or informal) should be strengthened. That could start with the reflection of their importance in the school’s curricula and extending to more professional levels. Capacity development on SSM should be enhanced so that more professionals are brought up-to-date on “state of the art” methods and tools. • Ensuring adequate inclusion of SSM in extension services Agricultural extension services should promote SSM principles and practices.

 • Establishing/strengthening soil information systems - Considering the living nature of soils, the assessment of their status should be a precondition to planning any SSM intervention. Soil data and information (including local knowledge) are essential for understanding soil conditions and trends in soil functions, as well as for targeting interventions to increase productivity. Where appropriate, national soil information systems should be established or strengthened in order to have solid monitoring capacities of soil condition in place. These systems would also contribute to the Global Soil Information System being promoted by the Global Soil Partnership. 

• Fostering international cooperation/collaboration on soils - International cooperation on soils should foster the exchange of knowledge, technology and information. Various arrangements including “North-South”, “South-South” and “Triangular” cooperation could be used for that purpose.

 • Promoting communication on SSM practices - Pursuing the efforts of the International Year of Soils 2015, SSM practices should be promoted and disseminated in view of their provisioning of important ecosystem service