SOIL (Feb 2016)
World's soils are under threat
- L. Montanarella,
- D. J. Pennock,
- N. McKenzie,
- M. Badraoui,
- V. Chude,
- I. Baptista,
- T. Mamo,
- M. Yemefack,
- M. Singh Aulakh,
- K. Yagi,
- S. Young Hong,
- P. Vijarnsorn,
- G.-L. Zhang,
- D. Arrouays,
- H. Black,
- P. Krasilnikov,
- J. Sobocká,
- J. Alegre,
- C. R. Henriquez,
- M. de Lourdes Mendonça-Santos,
- M. Taboada,
- D. Espinosa-Victoria,
- A. AlShankiti,
- S. K. AlaviPanah,
- E. A. E. M. Elsheikh,
- J. Hempel,
- M. Camps Arbestain,
- F. Nachtergaele,
- R. Vargas
Affiliations
- L. Montanarella
- European Commission – DG JRC, Via E. Fermi, 2749, 21027 Ispra (VA), Italy
- D. J. Pennock
- College of Agriculture and Bioresources, University of Saskatchewan, 51 Campus Drive, Saskatoon SK S7N 5A8, Canada
- N. McKenzie
- CSIRO Agriculture Flagship, B.E. Butler Laboratory, GPO Box 1666, Canberra, ACT 2601, Canberra, Australia
- M. Badraoui
- INRA, Rabat, Morocco
- V. Chude
- National Programme for Food Security, 127 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja, Nigeria
- I. Baptista
- Instituto Nacional de Investigação e Desenvolvimento Agrário (INIDA) – São Jorge dos Órgãos CP 84, Praia, Cabo Verde
- T. Mamo
- Ministry of Agriculture, P.O. Box 62347, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- M. Yemefack
- International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD), Yaoundé, Cameroon
- M. Singh Aulakh
- Banda University of Agriculture & Technology, Banda, 210001, Uttar Pradesh, India
- K. Yagi
- National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences (NIAES), 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba 305-8604, Japan
- S. Young Hong
- National Academy of Agricultural Science (NAAS), Rural Development Administration (RDA), Wanju-gun, Jeonbuk, South Korea
- P. Vijarnsorn
- Chaipattana Foundation, Bangkok, Thailand
- G.-L. Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
- D. Arrouays
- INRA, InfoSol Unit, US 1106, 45075, Orléans, France
- H. Black
- Ecological Sciences Group, The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, Scotland, UK
- P. Krasilnikov
- Eurasian Center for Food Security, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
- J. Sobocká
- National Agricultural and Food Centre – Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia
- J. Alegre
- Departamento de Suelos, National Agrarian University, La Molina, Peru
- C. R. Henriquez
- Centro de Investigaciones Agronómicas, Facultad de Ciencias Agroalimentarias, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, Costa Rica
- M. de Lourdes Mendonça-Santos
- EMBRAPA – Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation/The National Centre of Soil Research (Embrapa Solos), Rua Jardim Botânico, 1024, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
- M. Taboada
- Instituto de Suelos and CONICET, CIRN, INTA, Nicolás Repetto y De los Reseros S/N, CP 1686 Hurlingham, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- D. Espinosa-Victoria
- Colegio de Postgraduados, Mexico City, Mexico
- A. AlShankiti
- International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- S. K. AlaviPanah
- Department of Remote Sensing and GIS, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
- E. A. E. M. Elsheikh
- Department of Soil & Environment Sciences, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Republic of the Sudan
- J. Hempel
- USDA-NRCS National Soil Survey Center,100 Centennial Mall, Lincoln, NE 68508, USA
- M. Camps Arbestain
- Institute of Agriculture and Environment, Massey Agriculture, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
- F. Nachtergaele
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome, Italy
- R. Vargas
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome, Italy
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-2-79-2016
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 2,
no. 1
pp. 79 – 82
Abstract
The Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils has completed the first State of the World's Soil Resources Report. Globally soil erosion was identified as the gravest threat, leading to deteriorating water quality in developed regions and to lowering of crop yields in many developing regions. We need to increase nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer use in infertile tropical and semi-tropical soils – the regions where the most food insecurity among us are found – while reducing global use of these products overall. Stores of soil organic carbon are critical in the global carbon balance, and national governments must set specific targets to stabilize or ideally increase soil organic carbon stores. Finally the quality of soil information available for policy formulation must be improved – the regional assessments in the State of the World's Soil Resources Report frequently base their evaluations on studies from the 1990s based on observations made in the 1980s or earlier.
