Careful Careless. A System to Restore Ecological Systems in Cities

Abstract

The Soil serves as the foundational pillar that sustains life on our planet, providing vital resources such as food and raw materials. However, the pursuit of technological advancements aimed at ex- tracting more from natural reserves, coupled with the necessity of supporting growing populations, has compromised the intricate natural systems that maintain life on Earth. Over the past decades, erosion and pollution have led to the degradation of one-third of the world’s arable land. Regret- tably, modern agricultural practices, characterised by extensive tilling and the heavy use of chemical fertilisers, have resulted in the erosion of topsoil, leaving it vulnerable and diminishing both food security and the soil’s capacity for carbon sequestration (Maximillian et al., 2019). In 2014, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported that the world’s remaining topsoil has been rapidly deteriorating and is expected to be completely degraded in the next 60 years. Without intervention, this leaves a mere six decades of viable harvests remaining.