Soils are the most basic requirement to secure our food supply, and they fulfil other essential functions. They filter pollutants, bind nutrients and store the water from which we source our drinking water supply. The soils around the world store some 1,500 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is twice the amount of the CO2 greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Soil protection is therefore very important for climate protection.
The steady loss of fertile soil is taking on rather alarming proportions: some 10 million hectares are lost worldwide every year. One fourth of the earth's land surface already contains significantly lower levels of humus and nutrients than it did 25 years ago or is no longer suitable for agricultural use. Against the background of population growth, forecasts have predicted – assuming equitable distribution of the available fertile soil worldwide – that every human on the planet in 2050 will have only half the arable land that is available to him/her today. The consequences of this development are already visible: soils are being used more intensively and the race for fertile soil is on. The danger is that not only soils, but also that the very poorest and most disadvantaged people, in particular in the world's southern regions, will fall by the wayside.
These are reasons which make it all the more important to take policy measures to counteract soil degradation and to keep access to fertile soils fair and equitable. The special initiative by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development "One World, No Hunger" hopes to make great strides in improving the global food situation as it includes measures in the priority fields of action 'protection and rehabilitation of agricultural soils'.
The Global Soil Forum of the IASS Potsdam is working together with international partner organisations and relevant representatives from government and civil society to develop a sustainable soil policy. The IASS will be hosting the third Global Soil Week from 19 to 23 April 2015 which will bring together stakeholders in government, industry, science and society to engage in the dialogue. Together they will develop practical pathways to sustainable soil management and a corresponding policy framework and also initiate cooperative projects.
Delegates from UBA, GIZ and IASS agreed that "halting soil loss and keeping access to soil fair requires international treaties to give more weight to soil protection. The United Nations' adoption of new global sustainability goals in 2015 might be an ideal opportunity to do so. We must take advantage of it."
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