Soil and Water: a source of life
Soil biodiversity is essential to all life on earth. Healthy soils act as a carbon sink, by sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, thus contributing to both climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts. Healthy soils could annually offset 1/3 of global GHG emissions from agricultural land. Soil and water lie at the heart of sustaining life on our planet and the quality & availability of water are interconnected.
Benefits of healthy Soils:
- Are the basis for healthy food production
- Host a quarter of our planet’s biodiversity
- Soils help to combat and adapt to climate change
- Are essential for food security
- Store and filter water
Soil is a living resource, home to more than 25% of our global biodiversity. Soil biodiversity is key to global food security, we need to protect our soils.
4 actions for farmers to preserve soil moisture:
- Keep a permanent soil cover
- Minimize or adopt zero tillage to conserve soil structure
- Harvest rainwater to reduce dependency on surface and groundwater
- Opt for crop varieties adapted to the local available soil moisture
Healthy soils are a lifeline for functioning & diverse ecosystems. Yet, 1/3 of global soils are degraded due to intensive farming & unsustainable land management practices. 95% of our food comes from soils. World Soil Day is the time to protect soil, its biodiversity, and water, to ensure a sustainable future for all.