Soil Degradation: Will Humankind Ever Learn?

Abstract

Soil degradation is a global problem caused by many factors including excessive tillage, inappropriate crop rotations, excessive grazing or crop residue removal, deforestation, mining, construction and urban sprawl. To meet the needs of an expanding global population, it is essential for humankind to recognize and understand that improving soil health by adopting sustainable agricultural and land management practices is the best solution for mitigating and reversing current soil degradation trends. This research editorial is intended to provide an overview for this Special Issue of Sustainability that examines the global problem of soil degradation through reviews and recent research studies addressing soil health in Africa, Australia, China, Europe, India, North and South America, and Russia. Two common factors-soil erosion and depletion of soil organic matter (SOM)-emerge as consistent indicators of how "the thin layer covering the planet that stands between us and starvation" is being degraded. Soil degradation is not a new problem but failing to acknowledge, mitigate, and remediate the multiple factors leading to it is no longer a viable option for humankind. We optimistically conclude that the most promising strategies to mitigate soil degradation are to select appropriate land uses and improve soil management practices so that SOM is increased, soil biology is enhanced, and all forms of erosion are reduced. Collectively, these actions will enable humankind to "take care of the soil so it can take care of us".

Soil Degradation, Land Scarcity and Food Security: Reviewing a Complex Challenge

“…Soil degradation, therefore, refers to a broad spectrum of changes in soil characteristics because of natural or anthropogenic factors that alter their structure and quality, including deforestation and the removal of natural vegetation, agricultural activities, overgrazing, overexploitation of vegetation for domestic use, and industrial activities [7,14,18,19,76,77]. Oldeman et al [76] (p. 7) distinguish two categories of human-induced soil degradation processes: "The first category deals with soil degradation by displacement of soil material.…”

Development of a composite soil degradation assessment index for cocoa agroecosystems in southwestern Nigeria

“…Nonetheless, misuse of soils, arising from intensive agricultural production and unsustainable land use practices has resulted in soil degradation, particularly in developing countries with poor infrastructure and financial capacity to manage natural resources (Tesfahunegn, 2016). Studies have re-ported that 500 Mha of land in the tropics (Lal, 2015), and more than 3500 Mha of global land area (Karlen and Rice, 2015), is currently affected by soil degradation, with serious implications for food security and the likelihood of malnutrition, ethnic conflict, and civil unrest (Lal, 2009). In response to these problems, an increasing interest in soil degradation has been observed among researchers and policymakers (Scherr, 1999;Lal, 2001;Bindraban et al, 2012;Baumhardt et al, 2015;Lal, 2015;Krasilnikov et al, 2016;Nezomba et al, 2017).…”

“…Worldwide, agricultural practices have been regarded as one of the major causes of soil degradation (Rahmanipour et al, 2014;Karlen and Rice, 2015;Zornoza et al, 2008). It is widely acknowledged that agricultural practices or land use changes in agricultural regions alter key soil properties such as SOM, total nitrogen (TN), cation exchange capacity (CEC), exchangeable cations, water-holding capacity (WHC), bulk density (BD), and total porosity (TP; Lemenih et al, 2005;Awiti et al, 2008;Trabaquini et al, 2015;Dawoe et al, 2010Dawoe et al, , 2014Ameyan and Ogidiolu, 1989;Hadgu et al, 2009;Thomaz and Luiz, 2012;Zhao et al, 2014;Tesfahunegn, 2014).…”

The Effects of Urban Policies on the Development of Urban Areas

“…The analysis conducted in this paper shows the dramatic importance of the development of updated urban planning tools based on principles aimed at reducing soil consumption, which today is no longer justified by real demand for housing, the safeguarding of natural and environmental systems, and the sustainable development of local communities. Planning, de facto, plays an important role both in its ability to convey public investment, including those arising from Operational Programmes, both in protecting the soil resources that, for the reasons set out in this paper, must be considered as limited and therefore regarded as a common good [52]. It should however be stressed how Italian legal framework of urban planning considers it as a matter of competing interest between the state and regions.…”