Soil: the great connector of our lives now and beyond COVID-19
R. M. Poch,
L. H. C. dos Anjos,
R. Attia,
M. Balks,
A. Benavides-Mendoza,
M. M. Bolaños-Benavides,
C. Calzolari,
L. M. Chabala,
P. C. de Ruiter,
P. C. de Ruiter,
S. Francke-Campaña,
F. García Préchac,
E. R. Graber,
S. Halavatau,
K. M. Hassan,
E. Hien,
K. Jin,
M. Khan,
M. Konyushkova,
D. A. Lobb,
M. E. Moshia,
J. Murase,
G. Nziguheba,
A. K. Patra,
G. Pierzynski,
N. Rodríguez Eugenio,
R. Vargas Rojas
Affiliations
R. M. Poch
Department of Environment and Soil Science, Universitat de Lleida, 25198 Lleida, Spain
L. H. C. dos Anjos
Department of Soils, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, CEP 23.897-000, Seropédica, Brazil
R. Attia
Direction Générale de l'Aménagement et de Conservation des Terres Agricoles, Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Ressources Hydrauliques et de la Pêche, 1002 Tunis, Tunisia
M. Balks
School of Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3216, New Zealand
A. Benavides-Mendoza
Department of Horticulture, Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro, Saltillo 25315, Mexico
M. M. Bolaños-Benavides
Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation – AGROSAVIA, Centro de Investigación
Tibaitata, Mosquera, Colombia
C. Calzolari
CNR – Institute of BioEconomy, 50029 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
L. M. Chabala
Department of Soil Science, University of Zambia, P.O. Box 32379, Lusaka, Zambia
P. C. de Ruiter
Biometris, Wageningen University, 6708 PB Wageningen, the Netherlands
P. C. de Ruiter
Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, the Netherlands
S. Francke-Campaña
National Forest Corporation, Ministry of Agriculture, Santiago, Chile
F. García Préchac
Soil and Water Management and Conservation, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 12900, Uruguay
E. R. Graber
The Volcani Center, ARO, Rishon LeZion 7505101, Israel
S. Halavatau
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Food & Fisheries, Nuku'alofa, Tonga
K. M. Hassan
Ministry of Agriculture, Baghdad, Iraq
E. Hien
Joseph Ki-Zerbo University, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
K. Jin
Grassland Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hohhot 010020, Inner Mongolia, China
M. Khan
Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, The University of
Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan
M. Konyushkova
Eurasian Center for Food Security, Lomonosov Moscow State University
Moscow, Russia
D. A. Lobb
Department of Soil Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada
M. E. Moshia
Faculty of Science and Agriculture, University of Fort Hare, Alice 5700, South Africa
J. Murase
Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
G. Nziguheba
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Central Africa Hub Coordination Office, Nairobi, Kenya
A. K. Patra
ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462038, India
G. Pierzynski
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
N. Rodríguez Eugenio
Global Soil Partnership, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 00153 Rome, Italy
R. Vargas Rojas
Global Soil Partnership, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 00153 Rome, Italy
Humanity depends on the existence of healthy soils, both for the production of food and for ensuring a healthy, biodiverse environment, among other functions. COVID-19 is threatening food availability in many places of the world due to the disruption of food chains, lack of workforce, closed borders and national lockdowns. As a consequence, more emphasis is being placed on local food production, which may lead to more intensive cultivation of vulnerable areas and to soil degradation. In order to increase the resilience of populations facing this pandemic and future global crises, transitioning to a paradigm that relies more heavily on local food production on soils that are carefully tended and protected through sustainable management is necessary. To reach this goal, the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recommends five active strategies: improved access to land, sound land use planning, sustainable soil management, enhanced research, and investments in education and extension. The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life. – Wendell Berry (American novelist)
