World’s soils are under threat | report
In a recently published article, an international team of scientists urge more action to save soils globally.
They note that as stores of soil organic carbon are critical in the global carbon balance, national governments must set specific targets to stabilize or ideally increase soil organic carbon stores.
[...] Dr. Abdullah Alshankiti, Senior Soil Management Scientist at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, who is one of the authors of the paper, said that communities are ill-equipped and not prepared to have answers to the change in soil. Commitment at the policy level to reclaim lost land not only must provide protective measures but also solutions through rehabilitation or the dimension of the economic and social cost of land degradation.
Citing the example of Iran, he noted that the country has implemented nine strategies for sustainable development. Egypt has strategies for each agro-ecological zone, and the United Arab Emirates has programs to improve degraded ecological systems, conserve biodiversity, mitigate climate change effects, and combat desertification.
Read the full article and download the paper - via ICBA | Agriculture For Tomorrow.
[Photo by Dale Gillard | Flickr]