Unlocking the potential of soil biodiversity
Averting an ecological meltdown
The International Network on Soil Biodiversity (NETSOB) held a workshop from 7-10 February, with participants from around the world gathering to debate biodiversity monitoring, sustainable management, economic valuation, policies and methods of adopting the best science-based solutions to conserve the essential ecosystem services that soils provide.
“High levels of biodiversity are a sign of healthy ecosystems which is conducive to resilient agrifood systems, and thus the provision of food, water, and the regulation of climate,” said the Global Soil Partnership’s (GSP) Leading Expert Rosa Minerva Cuevas Corona.
Safeguarding enabling environments for healthy soils, plant growth and nutritious diets stood centre-stage to the week-long discussions. Talks also encompassedcase studies that successfully addressed the conservation of soil biodiversity despite the many threats it faces – from pollution, urbanization, wildfires, erosion, deforestation and the loss of soil organic matter (SOM).
Partners stressed the need for comprehensive efforts to enhance soil biodiversity, the decline of which: “remains one of the main threats in many regions of the world and could be greater than estimated due to the lack of data,” cautioned Cuevas Corona.
The acceleration of land degradation, chiefly due to chemically fuelled, intensive agricultural production, is causing major reductions, undermining the ecosystem services supplied by healthy soils.
The workshop allowed NETSOB to agree on the main activities of the four working groups to be carried out in the short term. The first working group is charged with developing guidelines to measure, assess and monitor soil biodiversity. The second group is organising a field manual on good management practices to save and prevent soil biodiversity loss. The third group will produce methodologies for the economic valuation of ecosystem services and, the fourth group will start working on policy briefs to facilitate the sustainable use of soil biodiversity.
Addressing the risks to soil biodiversity by implementing policies to preserve the planet’s soils will involve the mobilization of robust financing instruments and rely on resilient partnerships to promote sustainable soil management (SSM).
The Network aims to unite soil experts and existing initiatives over the long-term to create the Global Soil Biodiversity Observatory (GLOSOB).NETSOB and GLOSOB form part of wider UN efforts to protect the environment through the responsible use of natural resources.
FAO representatives will join world leaders for the second part of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) from 25 April-8 May, in Kunming, China, to agree on a new set of goals to stem an ecological meltdown over the next decade.
More information on the above topics can be found here: