Soil degradation, theory, evidence and protection activities

Serious problems of land degradation and failing soil fertility are rapidly declining production levels in large parts of the world. Human-induced soil degradation worldwide has affected about 2000 million ha or 15 % of the total land area. Water erosion is thought to be a major reason for such extent of soil degradation. Due to this, the EU annually loses from 8 to 12 million ha of good, fertile soil and, if estimated in financial terms, this makes up a loss of about 40 million €. As a result, a search for solutions how to sustainably intensify production is becoming one of the key issues for agricultural and soil sciences. Modern intensive agriculture based on the use of chemicals poses a major threat to nature and primarily to soil.

The problem is further expanded by farmers seeking maximal yields and attempting to offset poor soil and crop management by excessive use of fertilizers or pesticides, which results in contamination of soil and agricultural products. All this disturbs vital soil ecological functions such as chemical buffering capacity, organic matter decomposition, nutrient cycling, biodiversity and aesthetic functions. Soil degradation most often manifests itself through the loss of humus, reduction of biological activity, destruction of structure, increasing compaction, acidification, salinization, nutrient leaching and runoff.

The capacity of soil to counteract various anthropogenic loads is limited and eventually is not capable of resisting the increased physical, chemical and biochemical loads and thus loses part of its valuable functions (e.g. productivity, biological filter, neutralizer of harmful compounds).

The aim of this seminar is to come up with ideas and provide answers to some of the urgent questions - how to protect the soil from human-induced degradation and to achieve sustainable management in compliance with the soil protection regulations. The fact that the solution to the above-mentioned problems is highly relevant and pressing has been endorsed in the resolution of the United Nations – the year 2015 has been declared as the International Year of Soils.