Living Earth: Organic News
For the love of Soil December sees the celebration of World Soil Day! This is the day, held annually on 5 December, that focuses attention on the importance of healthy soil and advocates for the sustainable management of soil resources. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) supported the establishment of a special day as a global awareness platform, and the world celebrated the first World Soil Day in 2014. This year, by addressing the increasing challenges of soil management, the FAO aims to raise awareness of the importance of sustaining healthy ecosystems and human wellbeing. By encouraging people around the world to engage in proactively improving soil health, the campaign also aims to raise the profile of healthy soil. Here at the Soil Association the message of World Soil Day resonates perfectly with our goals, and this year more than ever the topic of soil has come into sharp focus. There is growing awareness of where our food comes from and how it is produced. This has been reflected not just in the explosion in sales of organic food, but culturally too with the release of films like ‘Kiss The Ground’ on Netflix putting soil health squarely in the mainstream.
Soil is essential Soil is essential for life on earth. It is the earth’s living skin we all rely on. One quarter of all known species live within soil. Soils store rain after storms and filter our water. Soils hold more carbon than our atmosphere and vegetation combined.
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As Lady Eve Balfour, founder of the Soil Association said:
The health of soil, plant, animal and man is one and indivisible. But soils are also fragile and declining soil health spells trouble for everyone. When soils are left bare, undernourished and compacted they become more vulnerable to extreme weather. As climate change makes our weather events more volatile, soils are more prone to erosion, being washed downstream or being blown off the fields. This can mean losing years of stored carbon as well as the ability to store more. Degraded soils can mean a drastic reduction in food production too.
