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Why soils matters
- A european perspective
Executive Summary
Soil is a living ecosystem
, which is essential
for human and environmental health.
A healthy living soil sustains
biodiversity, protects and nourishes
crops and contributes to climate
change mitigation and adaptation.
But soil is under threat today. We
lose an estimated 24 billion tons of
fertile soil each year due to erosion,
while many of the soil functions that
are delivered for free to provide
productive, fertile and nutritious
food systems are destroyed
because we systematically sterilise
our soils with agro-chemicals, only
for farmers to then pay to replace
those lost functions.
Without protecting the soil, bringing
it back to life and building topsoil,
it will be impossible to feed people,
to transition to a toxic-free future,
to halt the loss of biodiversity and
adapt to the challenges of climate
change and extreme weather
events.
The objective of the conference
2015 ‘Why Soil Matters? - A
European perspective’ organised
by the Greens/EFA in the European
Parliament, was to highlight the
main concerns about soil health at
EU level as well as the existing or
potential solutions to preserve or
revive soils, the basis of our food
systems and essential to prevent
climate change.