Why soil matters (2024)

Why soil matters (1)

Soil is at the bottom of the food chain, yet it is the cornerstone of life on earth. It is critical for terrestrial life: acting as a water filter, nutrient giver, and habitat for billions of organisms that make up a diverse ecosystem.

When it’s healthy, it supplies humans with antibiotics that fight diseases, provides nutrients that feed our crops, and its self-sustaining cycle can regenerate for decades. Healthy soil helps to mitigate climate change by acting as a carbon sink – meaning it stores vast quantities of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses (GHGs) that would otherwise be released. In fact, soil is the second largest carbon sink after the ocean, capturing more CO2 than forests and holding three times more carbon than the Earth’s atmosphere.

Get updates on our work

Climate change and soil

Climate change has had a significant impact on soil health globally. Increasingly extreme weather has led to more droughts as well as more flooding. Rising sea levels can carry contaminants, like salt, into soil, as well as cause erosion. While the battle against a shifting climate presents challenge enough on its own, modern agriculture is degrading the planet’s soil at an accelerated rate. Due to practices like intensive ploughing and excessive use of fertilisers, pesticides and other chemicals, nearly half the world’s topsoil - soil with the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms that is essential to crop growing - has disappeared in the last 150 years.

Why is soil so important?

  • Soil is teeming with life. There are more living organisms in a handful of soil than there are people on the planet.
  • Soil provides a host of crucial services for both people and the planet. Soil puts food on our plates, purifies our water, protects us against flooding and combats drought. It’s also key to tackling climate change as it captures and stores vast amounts of carbon.
  • There is no food security without healthy soils. Agriculture is the only essential industry but farming has one of the biggest impacts on soil health. Intensive farming eliminates species living within the soil – species that give soil its fertility. How we farm today is destroying our ability to feed the planet in the future.
  • Creating new soil takes longer than the average human life. We need to protect and conserve soil – it is a living resource and it is finite.

What’s at stake?

While climate change has affected soil quality around the globe in recent years, soil, conversely, can affect climate change too. The Earth’s soil absorbs roughly a quarter of all human emissions each year, with a large portion of this stored in peatland or permafrost. Unfortunately, these Arctic habitats are on the frontlines of global warming and the additional CO2 released could accelerate the climate crisis.

Normally, rain soaks into soil, but where the structure is breaking down, it runs off fields instead, taking with it fertilisers and chemicals that are carried into waterways, damaging populations of aquatic plants and wildlife.

While the dangers present another layer in the fight for a greener future, soil offers one of the best win-win solutions for carbon capture, enhancing natural processes in relatively cost-effective ways. Most other carbon capture methods are extremely expensive but soil firms in the US and Australia have estimated low costs. There are also firms making it possible for farmers to get paid for using their soil to store carbon.

Replenishing and protecting the world’s soil carbon stores could help to offset up to 5.5bn tonnes of GHGs every year, in the US alone. It’s a forgotten solution that has largely been ignored for a long time but it will be key to our efforts to halt the climate crisis.

What is ClientEarth doing to protect soil?

Soil guarantees life on Earth but there is no EU law to protect it.

The EU’s new Farm to Fork Strategy aims to make food systems fair, healthy and environmentally positive. It includes non-binding targets to reduce the use of fertilisers and pesticides by 2030, but there is nothing concrete yet to show how this will be implemented at national level and how progress will be monitored.

At ClientEarth, we have been advocating for these targets to become legally binding by integrating them into the Common Agricultural Policy. The various issues that arise from soil pollution should all be considered under one umbrella if we are to achieve meaningful results. We believe the Farm to Fork Strategy, Biodiversity Strategy and Zero Pollution Action Plan should be integrated so that all these issues become part of the same discussion and Member States can develop realistic, concrete actions to achieve the targets that will keep our soil healthy for generations to come.

Soil science is an area I've deeply engaged with, focusing on its multifaceted role in sustaining life on our planet. The piece you shared encapsulates the intricate interplay between soil health, climate change, agriculture, and conservation efforts.

Firstly, soil acts as a foundation for life, supporting diverse ecosystems and playing a pivotal role in various crucial processes. Its function as a water filter, nutrient provider, and habitat for countless organisms is backed by extensive research. The profound impact of healthy soil on human life, providing antibiotics, nurturing crops, and acting as a substantial carbon sink, is well-documented. Studies have consistently shown the correlation between soil health and climate mitigation, highlighting its capacity to sequester carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

The challenges facing soil health today are evident, exacerbated by climate change-induced extremes and unsustainable agricultural practices. Issues like erosion, loss of topsoil, and the degradation of vital microorganisms within soil due to intensive farming are widely acknowledged. The staggering statistic that nearly half of the world's topsoil has vanished in the last century and a half underscores the urgency of this situation.

Soil's significance in food security cannot be overstated. The intricate web of life within soil, often overlooked, is fundamental for sustaining agricultural productivity. The impact of soil degradation on our ability to feed future populations is a looming concern.

Furthermore, the reciprocal relationship between soil and climate change is critical. Soil's ability to absorb significant portions of human-emitted carbon, while also being affected by global warming, underscores its role in either exacerbating or mitigating the climate crisis.

Efforts to protect soil health, such as those advocated by ClientEarth, are vital. Strategies aiming to reduce the use of harmful chemicals in agriculture, implementing policies to safeguard soil quality, and integrating various environmental agendas are crucial steps toward preserving this invaluable resource for generations to come. The push for binding regulations within the EU's agricultural policies, as proposed by ClientEarth, aligns with the imperative need to address soil degradation at a systemic level.

Ultimately, recognizing soil as a finite yet immensely valuable resource is imperative for sustainable environmental stewardship. Conserving, regenerating, and protecting soil health emerges as a linchpin in our collective endeavor to mitigate climate change and ensure the continuity of life-sustaining processes on Earth.

Why soil matters (2024)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Sen. Ignacio Ratke

Last Updated:

Views: 6008

Rating: 4.6 / 5 (76 voted)

Reviews: 91% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Sen. Ignacio Ratke

Birthday: 1999-05-27

Address: Apt. 171 8116 Bailey Via, Roberthaven, GA 58289

Phone: +2585395768220

Job: Lead Liaison

Hobby: Lockpicking, LARPing, Lego building, Lapidary, Macrame, Book restoration, Bodybuilding

Introduction: My name is Sen. Ignacio Ratke, I am a adventurous, zealous, outstanding, agreeable, precious, excited, gifted person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.