Status of the world’s soil resources

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This report proposes an inventory of the soils of the planet, through several components: food security, water, climate change, human health and biodiversity. The main message is that the majority of the world’s soil resources are in poor or very poor conditions: 33% of the land is degraded due to erosion, salinization, compaction, acidification and pollution chemical. Threats to soil are presented and policy recommendations are made.

Table of content:

1. Introduction
2. Drivers of global soil change
3. Soils and food security
   1. Soil erosion
   2. Nutrient imbalance
   3. Soil carbon and biodiversity losses
   4. Land take and soil sealing
   5. Soil acidification, contamination, and salinization
   6. Soil compaction and waterlogging
   7. Sustainable soil management
4. Soils and water
   1. Water erosion, regulation of surface water quality and the health of aquatic systems
   2. Filtering and transformation of contaminants and groundwater qualit
   3. Regulation of water quantity and floods
5. Soils and climate regulation
   1. Soil organic carbon loss
   2. Methane emissions from soils
   3. Nitrous oxide emissions from soils
6. Soils and human health
   1. Soil contamination
   2. Trends
7. Soil and biodiversity
8. Regional trends in the condition of soils
9. Global summary of threats to soil functions
10. Soil policy
    1. Education and awareness
    2. Monitoring and forecasting systems
    3. Informing markets
    4. Appropriate incentives and regulation
    5. Ensuring intergenerational equity
    6. Supporting local, regional and international security
    7. Understanding interconnectedness and consequences
    8. Cross-cutting issues
11. The way forwar

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Référence : FAO and ITPS. 2015. Status of the World’s Soil Resources (SWSR) – Technical Summary. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils, Rome, Italy