World Soil day 2019 will be celebrated along the theme; “Stop Soil Erosion, save our future!”. Every 5 seconds, the size of one soccer field of soil is eroded. We need to raise awareness about this alarming and growing problem through World Soil Day.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) endorsed World Soil Day in June 2013 and the 68th session of the UN General Assembly officially declared 5th of December as World Soil Day. December 5th was chosen as World Soil Day because it corresponds with the official birthday of the late H.M King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand, who was one of the main advocates for this topic.
“Soil degradation is defined as a change in the soil health status resulting in a diminished capacity of the ecosystem to provide goods and services for its beneficiaries. Degraded soils have a health status such that they do not provide the normal goods and services of the particular soil in its ecosystem.” (FAO.org)
Soil Erosion refers to the losses of topsoil and nutrients in the soil. This is the most visible effect of soil degradation. Soil erosion is a natural process in mountainous areas but is often made much worse by poor management practices.
Land degradation refers to all negative changes in the capacity of the ecosystem to provide goods and services (including biological and water-related goods and services – and in LADA’s vision - also land-related social and economic goods and services).
Desertification is another common term used for;
(a) land degradation in dryland areas and/or
(b) the irreversible change of the land to such a state it can no longer be recovered for its original use.
Prevention refers to the use of conservation measures to maintain natural resources; environmentally and productively
Mitigation refers to the intervention intended to reduce ongoing degradation. The main aim here is to halt further degradation and to start improving resources and their functions. The Impacts tend to be noticeable in the short to medium term: this then provides a strong incentive for further efforts. The word ‘mitigation’ is also sometimes used to describe the reductions in impacts of degradation.
Rehabilitation is required when the land is already degraded to such an extent that the original use is no longer possible and the land has become practically unproductive.
Today we encourage everyone around the world to engage in proactively improving soil health and raise the profile of healthy soil. the FAO campaign "Stop soil erosion, Save our future" aims to raise awareness of the importance of sustaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being If we do not act soon, the fertility of our soil will continue to deteriorate at an alarming rate, threatening our global food supply and food safety. On this day we focus our attention on the importance of healthy soil and advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources.
Join us!
Find more information on:
https://www.un.org/en/observances/world-soil-day (video source)
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