The Declaration of the Year of the Soils

Healthy soil guarantees sustainable food production, pure environment and secure future. Soil is a nonrenewable natural resource. It may take a thousand years for one centimetre of soil to be formed, but only a few seconds to destroy it. Yet, soil is easily forgo?en and just le? below the surface. The consequences of reckless land use may not be immediately evident – in most cases they appear only a?er some time, when rectifying the situation may be costly or even impossible. Soil that is seriously damaged by erosion or contaminated cannot produce high-quality food or secure access to pure drinking water.

In the Year of Soils we wish to draw attention to four functions of the soils that are vital for living organisms and the environment:

Soil feeds fields and forests.

Soil is the habitat for a diverse range of living organisms

Soil is the skin of the Earth

Soil is a huge filter and storage element for water