Fact sheets
Soils store and filter water
Improving food security and our resilience to floods and droughts
Functional soils play a key role in the supply of clean water and resilience to floods and droughts. Water infiltration through soil traps pollutants and prevents them from leaching into the groundwater. Moreover, the soil captures and stores water, making it available for absorption by crops, and thus minimizing surface evaporation and maximizing water use efficiency and productivity
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Soils help to combat and adapt to climate change by playing a key role in the carbon cycle
Healthy soils provide the largest store of terrestrial carbon. When managed sustainably, soils can play an important role in climate change mitigation by storing carbon (carbon sequestration) and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.
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Soils are the foundation for vegetation
which is cultivated or managed for feed, fibre, fuel and medicinal products
Healthy soils are crucial for ensuring the continued growth of natural and managed vegetation, providing feed, fibre, fuel, medicinal products and other ecosystem services such as climate regulation and oxygen production.
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A healthy soil is a living soil
Soils Host a Quarter of our Planet’s Biodiversity
Biological diversity or ‘biodiversity’ is described as “the variability among living organisms from all sources, whether terrestrial, aquatic or marine”. It includes the diversity within species (genetic diversity), between species (organism diversity) and of ecosystems (ecological diversity)...
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Healthy soils are the basis for healthy food production
The most widely recognized function of soil is its support for food production
It is the foundation for agriculture and the medium in which nearly all food-producing plants grow. In fact, it is estimated that 95% of our food is directly or indirectly produced on our soils. Healthy soils supply the essential nutrients, water, oxygen and root support that our food-producing plants need to grow and flourish. Soils also serve as a buffer to protect delicate plant roots...
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Soil is a non-renewable resource
Its preservation is essential for food security and our sustainable future
Soil is a finite resource, meaning its loss and degradation is not recoverable within a human lifespan. As a core component of land resources, agricultural development and ecological sustainability, it is the basis for food,feed, fuel and fibre production and for many critical ecosystem services. It is therefore a highly valuable natural resource, yet it is often overlooked...
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