{"id":55929,"date":"2020-12-08T18:58:31","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T23:58:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=55929"},"modified":"2020-12-08T18:58:31","modified_gmt":"2020-12-08T23:58:31","slug":"global-soils-underpin-life-but-future-looks-bleak-warns-un-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=55929","title":{"rendered":"Global soils underpin life but future looks \u2018bleak\u2019, warns UN report"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n

Global soils underpin life but future looks \u2018bleak\u2019, warns UN report<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

It takes thousands of years for soils to form, meaning protection is needed urgently, say scientists<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\"Scientists<\/picture><\/div>
\u00a0<\/span>Scientists describe soils as like the skin of the living world, vital but thin and fragile, and easily damaged by intensive farming, forest destruction, and pollution. Photograph: Zsolt Czegl\u00e9di\/EPA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/header>\n
\n

Global soils are the source of all life on land but their future looks \u201cbleak\u201d without action to halt degradation, according to the authors of a\u00a0UN report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A quarter of all the animal species on Earth live beneath our feet and provide the nutrients for all food. Soils also store as much carbon as all plants above ground and are therefore critical in tackling the\u00a0climate emergency<\/a>. But there also are major gaps in knowledge, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization\u2019s (FAO) report, which is the first on the global state of biodiversity in soils.<\/p>\n

The report was compiled by 300 scientists, who describe the worsening state of soils as at least as important as the climate crisis and destruction of the natural world above ground. Crucially, it takes thousands of years for soils to form, meaning urgent protection and restoration of the soils that remain is needed.<\/p>\n

The scientists describe soils as like the skin of the living world, vital but thin and fragile, and easily damaged by intensive farming, forest destruction, pollution and global heating.<\/p>\n

\n