Healthy soils are key to mitigating and adapting to climate change, to preserving biodiversity and to achieving food security, to only name a few of the most important aspects. However we are losing vast quantities of healthy soils every day. This loss is not only caused by natural hazards but largely by human soil consumption.
This topic is crucial in the Alps, where the availability of the resource soil is especially limited. Thus soils are currently tackled by different bodies in the broader framework of the Alpine Convention: the Contracting Parties of the Alpine Convention are examining the need for establishing a body dealing with soils, the Compliance Committee is reviewing in depth the topic of “Economical use of soils” and the Youth Parliament to the Alpine Convention is developing postulations on the topic of soil from the perspective of the youth. Furthermore the Action Group 6 of the EUSALP, led by the Alpine Convention and Carinthia, is working on 4 different aspects referring to soil, one of which is the development of awareness raising events. Another example of awareness raising is the designation of the “soil of the year” in Germany for which an “Alpine soil” is nominated for 2018.
Today is World Soil Day. Celebrate today with us and be aware that our soils are providing us with many services of high importance. Our planet can only nourish us when we succeed in preserving our soils.
