Foro Global sobre Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (Foro FSN)

Dear FSN-Moderator for VGSSM consultation,

I would like to send the comments from the Governemnt of Japan.

We have two types of comments (see the respective files):

1) The general comments applicable to the whole document

2) Specific comments applicable to the specific part of the documents

Thank you.

Yoji Matsui

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan

Dear colleagues

Thank you for the elaboration of this zero draft of the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management and for inviting us to contribute.

We think that this is a very good start and already contains many very valuable principles of soil management worldwide. However, we have some comments and suggestions for improvements which you all find in the attached document. We have addressed the general questions and made some detailed remarks into the draft text.

With kind regards

Rima Mekdaschi Studer and Gudrun Schwilch

CDE-WOCAT

I really don’t see anything in the suggestions that actually creates a change. We are going to talk this earth to death.

Something as simple as growing broadcast planted crops could actually effect an immediate change. Something as simple as using water from dishwashers, laundry and showers to flush toilets and water lawns could effect an immediate change.

It seems to me everyone is talking about doing something but nobody has actually suggested something that would make a difference overnight.

We can so what is stopping us?

Best regards and I will continue to do my best.

Jim

Thank you for the opportunity to make inputs to the draft. It is a valuable document, that could be improved by some additional paragraphs about the crucial role of Conservation Agriculture on the topic.

Sincerely,

Dear moderators,

Please find attached the answers to the five questions about the guidelines, also shared with the Italian members of Soil Resources – Superficial Deposits Task Force of EuroGeoSurveys.

Best regards,

Fiorenzo Fumanti, Anna Luise, Carlo Jacomini

Dear colleagues,

A small contribution focused on soil biodiversity, its role and function in the SSM.

My best congrats to the moderators and the whole working group who drafted this very interesting document...

Cheers

Carlo Jacomini

ISPRA

Italy

Dear Contributors

It is highly illuminating to get so many diverse views in this platform. My kudos to all of you. One of my request is, if the land practioners also are involved, then, it will be highly desirable to have their viewpoints. Soil use is eventually, actually a land use and we know, land use patterns are not uniform, so are our soils. My take is, can we think of or involve many land practiioners on following viewpoints :

How, for example, will be a suitable VGSSM for a city called a smart city ?

How for example, will be  a suitable VGSSM for Peri Urban Farming Systems?

How , for example, will be a suitable VGSSM for mountain soils?

How , for example, will be a suitable VGSSM for soils that are below sea level (Kuttanad region of Kerala, India)?

How for example, will be  a suitable VGSSM for Intensive Integrated Farming Systems?

How for example, will be  a suitable VGSSM for Crop Livestock integration Systems?

How for example, will be  a suitable VGSSM for Agro Forestry Systems?

Of course , we all are primarily focussed and  concentrated on VGSSM for our Crop based land use patterns.

But there are

etc etc etc......... based land use patterns

Let us reorient ourselves a little more towards thses facts also, to invite more discussions and viewpoints.

Nevertheless, the discussions, till date have been so enlightening, and my congratulations to Ronald and Den for moderating so beautifully and all the contributors.

Brajendra

ITPS- India

Dear Sir or Madam,

please find attached our comments on the 'Zero draft' of the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management.

Thank you for considering and please do not hesitate to contact me if need be for further clarifications.

Best wishes,

Evangelos Koumentakos

Dear Colleagues,

Thank you inviting us to contribute to this online consultation on Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management. This draft is a very good first stone to build upon a better soil management.

• Does the zero draft sufficiently outline a way to achieve sustainable soil management worldwide?

I appreciated the step by step construction of the document. Technical aspects (i.e. management practices) are present (see below), however communication, outreach advocacy ect.. are uncovered : 3 lines in section 5, with only mention of GSP, while GSP is not the only actor there.

• Have all the key technical elements to achieve sustainable soil management been included in the guidelines?

No.

1- Most of the document focuses on agricultural soils : more should be devoted to pasture and forest soils, as well as organic soils, rangeland, and even urban soils. For example in P 5 “Given the global diversity of soils and of agricultural management practices there are many pathways to achieving sustainable soil management”. Forest management practices are also relevant here.

2- Regarding agricultural practices, nearly all the attention is given to conservation agriculture / no tillage, while there are technical actions which are not mentioned or paid enough attention. Conservation agriculture is recommended without any caution (recommendation for reducing or suppressing herbides use for example…). Practices such as agroforestry or cover crops and infrastructures such as hedges are nearly absent from the document. E.g add hedges it in p 17 bullet point 8 as measures at the landscape scale to combat erosion, increase SOC and promote biodiversity. Organic agriculture is absent from the document: much can be said/discussed about the potential of organic agriculture to sustain food security, but it is curious that it is absent. It is, at least, a form of agriculture that reduces pesticides inputs to soils, promotes N fixation and organic fertilization and seeks to increase the organic C content of soil. The use of legumes to fix N is not very present in the document either (e.g. add it p 17  bullet point 4 about nutrients).

3- More precisely, concerning soils organic matter, it often appears under the umbrella of soil cover, but if this is one of the most efficient ways to increase SOC contents, it is not the only one (e.g. agroforestry, e.g. organic wastes from cities). Soil organic matter is absent from the guidelines to control soil erosion (p12 3.2) (increasing soil organic matter content increases aggregate stability and hence decreases soil erodibility).

4- There is no mention of techniques to restore severely degraded soils.

• Do the guidelines take into account the great variety of ecosystem services provided by soils?

Yes in general, although it is present in the first part of the document and little thereafter. I propose to use the term multifunctionality : soils would be better managed if all users were aware that they are multifunctional (provide multiple services).

• Will the results of the guidelines, once implemented be sufficient enough to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

These will be a good start, but no..

There is little development on the need of policies at the landscape, territory scales to avoid deforestation, agricultural land take for urbanization. Quantitative or qualitative criteria for judging of point 3.6 (p 14) will be needed.

• Do the guidelines identify activities that should be avoided to achieve multiple benefits through sustainable soil management?

Not really, the document is not build to identify them clearly. One topic that is not clear enough and sufficiently covered enough for me is that dealing with contaminants. 

Dear Moderator,

The Department for Environmental Protection as part of the municipality of Stuttgart highly appreciates the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management (VGSSM).

The guidelines are focused on the crucial aspects of soil protection.

The City of Stuttgart made excellent experiences implementing the municipal Soil Protection Concept since 2006. This concept is in line with the chapters 3.1, 3.8 and 3.9 of the VGSSM.

Therefore we expect positive impacts of the guidelines on soil protection.

As a completion of chapter 1 we propose to highlight that the guidelines aim at an equal ranking of soil protection compared with the protection of other envornmental compartments. .

Until today the relevance of soil as a basis for life is considerably underestimated compared with water, air, flora and fauna.

Best regards

Dr. Hans-Wolf Zirkwitz

_________________________________________________________

Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart

Amt für Umweltschutz

Dr. Hans-Wolf Zirkwitz

Amtsleiter