Every July 7, the International Soil Conservation Day is celebrated, a date established in 1963 in honor of the American scientist Hugh Hammond Bennett, a pioneer in the study and defense of soil health. Bennett showed that productivity and life depend directly on its care: “Productive land is our foundation, because everything we do begins and is maintained with the sustained productivity of our agricultural land.”
Soil is a living resource that sustains 95% of the world’s food production, according to the United Nations World Organization; and it is home to a quarter of the planet’s biodiversity, from bacteria and fungi to insects and small mammals. However, unsustainable agricultural practices such as intensive agriculture, excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, deforestation or changes in uses are degrading their structure, fertility and the biodiversity they contain. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recalls that most food comes from agricultural land and that, with the expected growth of the world population to more than 10,000 million people by 2050, soil health will be key to guaranteeing food and fodder in a sustainable way.
Soil degradation leads to loss of organic matter, erosion, salinization, acidification and pollution, affecting not only food production, but also water, climate and global biodiversity. At the same time, their conservation contributes to mitigating climate change, regulating the water cycle and maintaining healthy and resilient ecosystems.
International Soil Conservation Day reminds us that, unlike other natural resources such as water or air, soils do not regenerate quickly: their formation can take centuries. Therefore, their protection is essential to guarantee the well-being and life of present and future generations.
SOIL CONSERVATION AND ITS HEALTH
Within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP) financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) promotes various initiatives that contribute to soil conservation.
Firstly, the SOILBIO project, beneficiary of the 2021 call for grants to promote research on biodiversity, stands out, which aims to evaluate the effect of different agricultural practices on extensive rainfed arable crop farms, developing a wide range of indicators of biodiversity, soil functioning and health for the recovery of agricultural land in a context of global change.
On the other hand, the PASTURE + initiative, framed in the 2021 call for grants for the promotion of the bioeconomy and ecological transition, seeks to contribute to the restoration of soils and biodiversity, as well as to help mitigate climate change, through the implementation and monitoring of good livestock practices under an integrated management approach in pastures. woody crops and Mediterranean and mountain pastures.
In addition, within the framework of the call for projects that contribute to the implementation of the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change, the Foundation supports projects such as “Campo de Montiel more natural and resilient“, which has promoted the restoration of agroecosystems and ecological connectivity in agricultural mosaics, reinforcing their resilience to climate change.
