Editor’s Preface (original) (raw)

The role of soils in sustaining society and the environment

IUSS Division 4 & Newsletter Information Division Chair's Report Articles How to keep soils sexy after the IYS? International Decade of Soils One of our own elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy 8 Can microbes survive the drying of the world's soils. Signatures of the Anthropocene in contemporary soils Five years have passed since the nuclear accident at Fukushima, Japan Memories-Mud Mural in the Rice Gallery 13 The Mystery of the mile-long 'band-of-holes' could be solved 14 SciFi brings a focus on soil to the general public

Soil, Earth and People - Our Care and Responsibility

2017

The article discusses the relationship between soils, land modern man and his concern and responsibility for sustainable land management. The main problems, which limit the rational use and protection of land are analyzed and also on the first place among them the improper and unfair distribution of fertile soils and lands, and the resulting problems on a different nature – geographic, demographic, ecological, food consumption and social onece The significance of the triadic paradigms "soil-land-people", "capital-labor-science" and "wisdom-harmony-prosperity" is noted as well as the maxims that oblige us to work on them. It is also emphasized that soils in Bulgaria are subject to natural, anthropogenic and technogenic pressures. Problems are outlined which are related to arable land, recommendations, guidelines and critical assessments of the soil scientists and the European institutions (European Parliament and European Commission on Agriculture and De...

SOIL: The vision to a global challenge

2020

Maintaining and improving the soil resource is crucial for the protection of the global environment, the sustainability issues, the human well-being, and the economic development. Soil is in fact a complex integrated system whose multitude of biotic and abiotic properties allows the provision of functions, which in turn deliver ecosystem services for human benefits. The most widespread agrarian, forest and food production systems may have negative impacts on soil, thus exacerbating its degradation processes. There is an increasing awareness that improper use or poor soil management, together with the most recent events related to climate change, jeopardize the proper functioning of soils. The need to protect the soil resource is thus widely shared internationally. One of the major challenges in the new growth EU strategy is to accomplish food security and to promote sustainable agricultural development, achieving the climate neutrality by 2050. Given the crucial role of soil for hum...

Soil and Its Role in the Ecosystem

Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World, 2017

Soil is highly heterogeneous body in the terrestrial ecosystem that has evolved through thousands of years of natural processes and has remained habitat for enormous biodiversity. Due variability in seasonal temperature, rainfall, parent materials and vegetation, different types of soils have been found in India; and each of these soils have distinct mineralogical compositions, physical and chemical properties. Such heterogeneity has resulted wide variations in the response of soils to polluting activities which causes differential location specific impacts. To understand the interaction of pollutants with soil constituents and their impact on agroecosystems, basic knowledge on various aspects of soil resources and its functions are essential. This chapter describes in brief, the major soil types of India and their properties, role of soil constituents on its quality, different soil forming processes, inhabiting organisms and their role in different soil nutrient cycling processes affecting crop productivity. Keywords Soil type • Ecosystem • Organisms • Pedogenic processes • Agroecological zone • India Soil is a highly heterogeneous body in respect of physical, chemical and biological characteristics as well as constituents and such heterogeneity arises both at microand macro-scale in all three dimensions. Pollutants interact quite differently with each of its constituents and hence, impact of anthropogenic activities on ecosystem varies widely. This necessitates a comprehensive understanding on soil and its role in the ecosystem by the personnel's involved in environmental impact assessment. This chapter briefly describes the important aspects of soil science mainly in the perspective of crop productivity. Soil is a resource on which every person's life, well-being and fulfillment depend. Poor management reveals itself in terms of social and economic costs along with political repercussions. No sustainable agriculture and sustainable development is possible without this awareness. Present societies show little interest in this regard, and soil is often considered as no more than a support for human activities. We abuse the land because we regard it as a commodity for use by us but when we see it as a part of community to which we belong, we start looking at it with respect. If soil is viewed as precious resource, its use should abide by certain rules and a number of conditions so that different ecosystem functions are protected