Activities Implemented in Soil Science Subjects to Learn Specific Competences and Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

In 2015, within the United Nations, 193 Member States unanimously adopted a new Sustainable Development Agenda, called Agenda 2030. In its core, there are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for improving the lives of the people and the protection of the environment. The 17 SDGs are based on the so-called 5 P's: people, prosperity, peace, planet and partnerships. The SDGs are universal and everyone is needed to reach them, including universities and students. Soil plays a key role in achieving the SDG, mainly due to its functions, i.e. biomass and food production, carbon and nutrient sequestration, water filtration, landscape and heritage, source of raw materials, habitat of soil organisms, which are essential for human life and the maintenance of the ecosystems. Many of the SDGs cannot be achieved without healthy soils and sustainable soil use and management. Therefore, soil science teaching is of great importance to convey soil scientific knowledge to students and get them involved in the accomplishment of the SDGs. In this communication, we present the results of the analysis of the activities carried out by the students related with SDGs and the cation exchange capacity of soils and soil nitrogen fertilization as well as the outcomes of the activity in which students related a laboratory experiment to the SDGs.

Integrating United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Soil Science Education

“…The integration of SDGs into soil science education can enrich learning experiences not only for soil science students but also for students from other STEM disciplines (e.g., forestry; wildlife biology; and agriculture), especially since introductory soil science is often a required course in their curriculum. For example, Noguera et al (2021) [15] integrated the subject matter of cation exchange capacity (CEC) with SDGs within a soil science laboratory where students were asked to relate their newly acquired knowledge to relevant SDGs with most students selecting SDG 2. Zero Hunger as the most relevant SDG.…”

“…Soil properties are related to soil functions, which provide ES necessary to achieve SDGs (Figure 1). For example, soil texture (proportion of sand, silt, and clay, %) is a physical property with the function of storing, filtering, and transforming nutrients in the soil, which provides regulating ES necessary to achieve several SDGs (e.g., SDG 2,6,7,and 15). Table 1 provides a selection matrix [11] that shows all the SDGs, as well as examples of typical ES by category which could be used to help identify which ES supports achieving specific SDGs.…”