Soils are a double-edged climate sword. They are huge reservoirs of organic carbon and can act as a carbon sink. But they can also release CO2 into the atmosphere when used unsustainably. Forests are often called the lungs of the planet because of the way they "breathe" in carbon dioxide. The role…

The GEO regional assessments provide detailed analysis of regional environmental challenges as well as key findings and policy messages for each of the 6 UNEP regions. These are important for policy makers working in the regions to provide solid evidence and policy options which will help tackle…

Sampling and analysis or visual examination of soil to assess its status and use potential is widely practiced from plot to national scales. However, the choice of relevant soil attributes and interpretation of measurements are not straightforward, because of the complexity and site-specificity of…

Rural women - a quarter of the world’s population - work as farmers, wage earners and entrepreneurs. They represent an important share of the agriculture workforce and their contribution to the rural economy is widely underestimated. They are concentrated in the informal economy in low-skilled, low…

Have a look at some articles: You have full text access to this OnlineOpen article Experimental and statistical study of saturated hydraulic conductivity and relations with other soil properties of a desert soil (pages 256–264) Persistent carbon loss from the humus layer of tilled boreal forest soil…

To celebrate 30 years of activities the ESSC is organizing the SoWaSe-ESSC International Conference on ‘Soil and Water Security: Challenges for the next 30 years!’

The Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils has completed the first State of the World's Soil Resources Report. Globally soil erosion was identified as the gravest threat, leading to deteriorating water quality in developed regions and to lowering of crop yields in many developing regions. We…

Soil, a natural four‐dimensional body at the atmosphere–lithosphere interface, is organic‐carbon‐mediated realm in which solid, liquid, and gaseous phases interact at a range of scales and generate numerous ecosystem goods and services. Soil organic carbon (SOC) strongly impacts soil quality…

Special Issue Title: Salt Soil Improvement and Efficient Development

RESEARCH ARTICLES The sheep in wolf‘s clothing? Recognizing threats for land degradation in Iceland using state-and-transition models I.C. Barrio, D.S. Hik, J. Thórsson, K. Svavarsdóttir, B. Marteinsdóttir and I.S. Jónsdóttir Accepted manuscript online: 20 APR 2018 12:00AM EST | DOI: 10.1002/ldr…

In this report, the notion of soil as an integral part of ecosystems and natural capital is explored and thus focused on the stock of the soil resource and the flows of valuable goods and services that can be derived from this stock. The concept of natural capital recognises soil as an asset that is…

This paper proposes a selective review of the classical economics-based literature on climate change and migration, focusing on the extent to which agriculture might be considered a key mediating channel linking climate change to migration. Overall, climate change is expected to have large and…

Contamination of land by persistent organic pollutants has significant implications for human health and for future development potential. Bioremediation is an effective method for reducing the concentrations of such contaminants to below harmful levels, but the presence of co‐contaminants may…

Governments should invest in healthy, living soils by channeling agricultural subsidies towards sustainable farming methods. If done right, agriculture can conserve the diversity of species found in soils, helping halt land degradation and desertification. This in turn helps countries ensure future…

The Responsabilité & Environnement series publishes quarterly thematic files on topics related to risks, sustainable development and energy and raw materials. Led by an industry specialist under the editorial board of the series, each issue presents a wide range of complementary perspectives…

The GIZ programme 'Soil protection and rehabilitation for food security', in collaboration with University of Leeds and ICRISAT has developed the new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) 'Land Matters! Integrating soil degradation concerns and solutions into policy processes'. The registration for the…

Despite the wide recognition of the importance of soils, soil protection efforts in European Union have been partial, fragmented and insufficient to halt their degra­dation. Calls for improving this situation have increasingly come from scientists, policymakers, non-governmental organisations and…

Take these eight steps to make soils more resilient to drought, produce more food and store emissions, urge Cornelia Rumpel and colleagues.

In this report the findings of a questionnaire commissioned by the European Commission Joint Research Centre for the revision of the Indicator "Progress in the management of contaminated sites in Europe" in 2016 are presented. It has been produced with the contribution of data provid­ed by the…

In 2015, the UN formulated seventeen global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), among them ending poverty, eliminating hunger, protecting the planet and ensuring peace and prosperity. Although judicious management of soils is critical to advancing most of these goals, the word soil is not once…

The Senior Officials of the UN have agreed at EMG SOM 24 in the margins of UNGA to form a Coalition to Combat Sand and Dust Storms. Major tasks of this coalition will include raising awareness, convening stakeholders and raising the proper amount of funds to help combat this phenomenon. A few other…

“The Business Case for Investing in Soil Health” shows how companies around the world are beginning to address the issue and identifies the next steps for scaling-up action and investment in soil health. Soil health is a pressing global issue that sits at the heart of three UN conventions (UNCBD…

Publication Guides Businesses on Mainstreaming Biodiversity

The Global Ecological Land Unit map is the most detailed look ever at Earth’s ecosystems. Basically, it partitions the planet into squares 250 meters on a side—roughly the size of a couple of football fields. An ecosystem looks at lithology (that’s rocks and dirt), climate, topography, and land…

The detrimental impacts of these processes on land resources, which are widely recognized as environmental problems of global concern become really dramatic in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions (drylands), where land degradation is more properly defined as desertification.