The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) declared, in 2014, December 5 as World Soil Day, a date chosen in honor of the birth of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a renowned defender of soil sustainability. This year, the slogan chosen is “Healthy soils for healthy cities”, which focuses on the important role of soil also in cities and urban landscapes. The soil under asphalt, streets and buildings, if permeable and covered with vegetation, helps absorb rainwater, regulate temperature and improve air quality.

A GLOBAL CHALLENGE

More than 95% of the food we consume depends directly on the soil, according to the FAO. In addition, soil regulates the carbon cycle and is home to a quarter of terrestrial species, from microorganisms to invertebrates. Every year, some 100 million hectares of soil are degraded, and up to 33% of the global land surface is already considered degraded, putting food security, biodiversity and freshwater supplies at risk. Protecting soil is essential for climate resilience and for a sustainable future for generations to come.

The 2025 “State of Food and Agriculture” (FAO) report highlights that 1.7 billion people live in areas where degradation directly affects agricultural productivity and food security. The paper stresses that reversing just 10% of human-caused degradation on cropland could restore enough production to feed 154 million more people each year.

SOIL DEGRADATION IN SPAIN

In Europe, the south of the continent is particularly vulnerable, with climate scenarios predicting rising temperatures and less precipitation, accelerating aridity. Currently, 40% of the Spanish territory, more than 206,000 km², is already at risk of desertification, affecting 70% of arid areas. Provinces such as Murcia (91%), Albacete (84%), Almeria (84%), Las Palmas (81%), Valladolid (79%) and Alicante (79%) show rates where natural aridity is combined with unsustainable human practices. These are data from the Atlas of Desertification of Spain (ADE), a project of the University of Alicante promoted by the Biodiversity Foundation through the call for grants to promote research in the field of biodiversity of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), with NextGenerationEU funds.

For its part, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has updated in 2025 the National Strategy to Combat Desertification (ENLD), which sets out objectives and principles, analyses the policies with the greatest impact on desertification and proposes measures and actions to improve governance and promote sustainable land management. The strategy establishes a coherent and integrated framework of actions organised into three axes and fourteen lines of action through a set of measures that respond to the main challenges, prioritising synergies with the 2030 Agenda and the European Green Deal.