Soil and the Sustainable Development Goals

A major goal of soil biodiversity research is to integrate what is being learned into sustainable land management policies. These policies have an impact on soil fertility for food, feed and biomass production, the prevention of human disease, and the mitigation of climate change. More than half of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) depend on appropriate soil preservation. This is relevant for food security (SDGs 2 and 6), food safety and human health (SDG 3), urban development (SDG 11), as well as SDGs 1, 6, 12, 13, 14 and 15 which are associated to poverty reduction, clean water, responsible production, land management, climate change and overall biodiversity preservation. More specifically, the SDG target 15.3 on land degradation neutrality commits that “by 2030 to combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world” (United Nations General Assembly. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. October 21, 2015).

Did you know? In stark contrast to wildfires which damage and degrade the soil due to the high temperatures, prescribed fires are less intense and, when administered adequately, can contribute to increased soil fertility, grassland recovery, the regeneration of particular plant species, and allows for forest biomass management. Interestingly, some microbes such as the fungus Neurospora crassa are amongst the first colonizers of the soil and dead wood after a forest fire because their heat-resistant sexual spores benefit from the degree of sterility provided by the fire and rely on the higher temperature to germinate.