Soil biodiversity and a sustainable future

 
 
 

dr. Elizabeth bach

Ecosystem Restoration Scientists, The Nature Conservancy

 
 
 
 
Figure 1. Soil organisms that support ecosystem services and sustainability goals (originally published in Bach et al., 2020).

Figure 1. Soil organisms that support ecosystem services and sustainability goals (originally published in Bach et al., 2020).

Humanity is transforming our world in unprecedented ways, including ways that are likely to impact humanity’s ability to thrive in the future. Recognition of the need to sustain life on Earth, both human and non-human, has led to global agreements to guide actions now for a better future. These agreements include the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by member nations of the United Nations (UN) in 2015, and an emerging Biodiversity Strategic Plan for 2030 to carry forward the UN Convention on Biodiversity’s strategic plan for 2020. These agendas show tremendous promise and bring much needed attention to multiple issues to ensure a healthy planet and healthy people for generations to come. In order to make progress toward these ambitious, perhaps even grandiose, plans, it is important to look for opportunities to advance multiple goals and targets simultaneously. Soil biodiversity supports many aspects of these agendas, and yet is largely overlooked in efforts to meet these goals.

Soil is home to more than 25% of global biodiversity and supports essentially all terrestrial life, including people, and contributes to healthy aquatic systems (Figure 1). Soil organisms support human health and well-being through crop and livestock production, regulation of pests and disease, and underpins human communities, economies, and cultures. Life on land relies on soil biodiversity for nutrient cycling, supporting plant growth, and as an integrated part of food webs. Activities of soil organisms reduce nutrient-loading and pollutants in water as well as open pore spaces, which impact water infiltration. Soil biodiversity plays a critical role in climate regulation, cycling carbon assimilated by plants into soil and/or respiring it back to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. In short, soil biodiversity is essential to almost all aspects of sustained biodiversity and humanity.

How can we protect soil biodiversity and support it s functioning (Figure 2)? Four broad actions are:

Figure 2. Actions that promote soil biodiversity and ecosystem services (originally published in Bach et al., 2020).

Figure 2. Actions that promote soil biodiversity and ecosystem services (originally published in Bach et al., 2020).

  1. Protecting natural areas

  2. Restoring degraded areas

  3. Adopting sustainable farming practices

  4. Supporting green urban areas

Protecting soil biodiversity where it already exists is important to maintain biological diversity, climate regulating activities, and hydrological regimes. Much of the earth has been directly impacted by human land use, and where appropriate, ecosystem restoration can improve biodiversity and functioning, both belowground and aboveground. For humanity to persist, we need areas dedicated to agricultural production, and there are ways to work with soil biodiversity to support crop and livestock production and gain ecological functions like water infiltration and storage, climate regulation, and natural pest control. Sustainable farming practices vary widely across crops, cultures, and geography and many traditional and indigenous agricultural practices already leverage soil organisms. Increasingly, people live in urban areas, and soil biodiversity can be an important part of healthy cities and towns. Urban areas can be home to diverse microbial and invertebrate communities, and infrastructure decisions such as green space allocation, rain gardens and rooftop gardens with native plant communities, and reduction of urban sprawl can enhance services provided by soil organisms.

Knowledge and appreciation of soil biodiversity has grown tremendously in the past decade. The Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative has become a home network to bring scientists together and bring soil biodiversity into the global political realm. As part of the upcoming reiteration of the Biodiversity Strategic Plan, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization produced the first Global Assessment of Soil Biodiversity, coordinated by lead editor, and former GSBI Executive Director, Kelly Ramirez. This document will be shared with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, in hopes that soil biodiversity will gain recognition in the global strategy to protect and embrace biological diversity.

Read more about this topic in the new review article from former GSBI leaders Elizabeth Bach, Tandra Fraser, and Kelly Ramirez, and GSBI Scientific Director, Diana Wall:

Bach, E. M., K. S. Ramirez, T. D. Fraser, and D. H. Wall. 2020. Soil Biodiversity Integrates Solutions for a Sustainable Future. Sustainability 12:2662. doi: 10.3390/su12072662

 
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