SAC Research

It is a precious commodity that largely governs agricultural sustainability and environmental quality both locally and globally; it is the foundation for all rural land use and much of the economy.

Approximately 80% of the total value of ecosystem services (estimated at $33.3 trillion per year) can be linked to soil functions, and consequently human welfare can be directly linked to the efficient and effective functioning of soil.

Soil has been included as one of the themes of the EC’s 6th Environment Programme and the development of the European Strategy on Soil Protection will be linked to the introduction of the forthcoming reforms to the CAP.

The recently released Soil Action Plan for England is also inexorably moving us closer to the incorporation of soil quality (at least in part) within the legal and institutional framework of environmental protection and management ('Towards a Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection' (COM(2002) 179 - C5-0328/2002 - 2002/2172(COS))).

With careful management and judicious use of inputs soil will continue, year after year, to provide the basis of agriculture and provide these ecosystem services needed to support society.

The challenge is to ensure that land management practices maintain and improve this fundamental resource. There is therefore a need for all stakeholders to work together to assess our understanding of how soil properties and land management practices contribute to the performance of soil functions. This will allow the identification of best (or least worst) management approaches and policy frameworks supporting them, which optimise the delivery of all ecosystem services in the landscape.

Key questions

• What are the current threats to the sustainable use of soils?
• What role can the community play in developing sustainable land management practices?
• What kind of incentives will get farmers to work for sustainability?
• What are the optimal knowledge transfer mechanisms?

These questions need to be taken forward in a way which integrates both the natural and social science context of soils.