THE CHALLENGES OF SOIL SCIENCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

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1 THE CHALLENGES OF SOIL SCIENCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Parviz KOOHAFKAN Doctor in Terrestrial Ecology, PhD, (University of Montpellier) - MSc - Water and Forests Engineer (University of Teheran). Chief, Land Ressources Conservation and Management Service, Land and Water development Division, FAO, Rome. Specialist of land intergrated management and sustainable development in tropical medium: management of watersheds and soil conservation in Haïti, Equator, Perou, Costa Rica. Préviously: Professor at University of Rezayeh (Iran) and at ENGREF in Montpellier. Researcher at CEPE-CNRS in Montpellier. Team Leader and Chief Technical Adviser of FAO. Address : FAO - Chief Soil Resources and Plant Nutrition Management Service - Land and Water Development Division - Via delle Terme di Caracalla, Roma, Italy 1. Introduction With the acceleration of the history both in developed and developing countries, and the emerging concept of sustainable development, most sciences, including soil science, are facing new and overwhelming challenges. In developing countries, food insecurity remains a persistent and ever growing problem for a large portion of the world s population. Such a situation has immediate consequences on soil: for example, the adoption of survival strategies by poor farmers has aggravated productivity decline, soil losses and widespread land degradation. The technical solutions of the Green Revolution have been hampered by social, institutional and environmental constraints and can no longer respond to the extent of food security crises and, sustainability of resource base can not be maintained under such approaches. In developed countries, the rapid transformation of the agricultural sector in the last decades, not only for the quality and quantity of the food production, but also in its social and environmental functions, together with the impacts of agricultural intensification on soil and water, has brought additional questions and challenges to soil science. In this context, the improvement of soil productivity has been given secondary importance compared to the other concerns such as soil and water pollution, food quality and health, and the preservation of landscape and environmental conservation. Additionally, the global environmental problems such as land degradation and desertification, loss of biological diversity and climate change have received increased attention from the international community

2 and have opened new debates on the multifunctional role of soils, not only as a resource base for food production but also as a biological reserve and for the carbon sink. 2. Sustainable development, a concept in evolution New scientific bases for soil science are needed in order to offer real perspectives for increased food production while maintaining sustainability of resources bases and the protection of the local and global environment. Some of the existing agricultural developments models such as mono-cropping and high yield-high input agriculture, beneficial mostly to a minority of agricultural producers in developing countries, are undoubtedly the result of the past evolution of the research in soil science. This evolution has been accompanied by the sharp divisions between specialized domains within soil science and from other major disciplines particularly the social and economical sciences. Various sub-disciplines were developed in soil science leading to increasingly fragmented and targeted knowledge, hence difficult to integrate them within the discipline and with other sectors. Research themes, strongly related to food security, such as soil conservation or more widely soil fertility management, can be undertaken more effectively when the dynamics of landscape and broad functions of the agricultural systems are taken into account simultaneously and within a holistic approach. Interdisciplinary research programmes based on the real contexts and needs of local populations should be undertaken with the participation of all stakeholders since the inception of these programmes. Before describing the different aspects of this broadened model of research, the importance of the concept of sustainable development and its recent evolution is to be highlighted. Since the seventies, consensus on productivism has been questioned and new approaches such as eco-development, research development and local area development have been developed. Since the report of the Brutlands Comission on 1987, sustainable development appears to be the direction in which all nations, rich and poor, should be involved. In 1992, in Rio de Janeiro, the concept of sustainable development was enlarged to include, not only the protection of the environment and the wise use of natural resources, but also the economic, social and cultural aspects of the development. Presently, the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), together with countries and the United Nations bodies and other national and international institutions are reexamining each year the progress made in this area FAO, on its part, has put into practice this widened concept of sustainable development in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. In essence, sustainable development is about the safeguarding of the natural, human, institutional, and cultural assets of the Earth for the present and future generations. 3. Land degradation and the food crisis To face this challenge, soil science has often been en retard d une guerre. Actually, facing a new erosive crisis, the tools which soil science researchers made available to technicians and decision makers generally had already been developed on the occasion of the former crisis. Most of the erosion assessment and soil conservation methods date back, mainly to the years after the war, marked by consensus on productivism and a linear concept of the development. These tools, of course, were improved with time (computer science is

3 largely used), but there is general reluctance on rethinking and their fundamental adaptation. For an important part of these tools, it is an inheritance of the past and products elaborated in a different context from the one which they are actually used. Their adaptation to the new context is, generally, a long and hazardous process. The evolution towards sustainable development has also led to a major change in the relationship between the scientific community and farmers, and differs from former approaches in the following ways:. The farmer is considered to be the central actor in the decision-making process. This adds complexity to the role and responsibility of the soil science researcher (i.e., ethical considerations).. The intellectual work linked to a project is redefined, since the researcher must be able to dialogue both with the environment and with the farmer, and should deal with both local and global problems. This entails greater responsibilities with respect to the various social demands. Within this approach, soil conservation is less of a problem of choosing the right technical solution to control erosion but a matter of adapting the agricultural production systems which maintain soil fertility, enhance biological diversity and conserve the environment. Such an approach requires also the promotion of interactions between local communities and the extended community in its various political, institutional and economical aspects. 4. Promoting interdisciplinary research Soil science can no longer remain independent from other disciplines, compared to more integrative disciplines such as geography or ecology, and, at the same time, to challenge the increasing social demands. Promotion of a systemic approach, bringing together the relevant facts from various scientific disciplines and establishing bridges among them, as well as among specialized disciplines within the soil science seems to be the appropriate approach to face the complexity of the problems. This leads the soil science to focus more on the local context, improve our understanding of landscape evolution (seen as an interaction between ecology and economy) and to increase our awareness of the impacts of the global phenomena such as climate change or economic globalization on social and ecological environment. The researchers must familiarize themselves with other disciplines, acquire their vocabulary and learn their approaches. Cooperation among researchers from different disciplines should be encouraged within local and global integrated programmes, thus improving the involvement of soil scientist into other scientific communities. To facilitate this evolution in soil science, the criteria for evaluating research projects needs also to be adapted. As long as scientific recognition is granted primarily to highly specialized works, the young researcher will be quietly discouraged from taking part in interdisciplinary groups. The unwritten laws of the scientific community are an effective discouragement to such desirable changes. Their evolution should allow soil science to better meet current challenges. An open debate on this subject is necessary to accelerate this evolution. 5. Soil science and society: clarification of the debate The debate on how soil science should face the new challenges of society, too often

4 appears to be a dialogue to the deaf, when it doesn t turn into polemics. Defining the researcher s role in such context, is a subject of conflict between different sections of the research community. Some researchers, who are pleading for an opening up of the research to social problems, often are granted with less recognition by their colleagues and are forced to rely on institutions outside the domain. At the same time, the dependence of research on external funding sources is increasing. Less resources are specifically allocated to scientific research in many countries whereas more energy is devoted by researchers to convince donors to mobilize funds for the research. As a result, research is also loosing its autonomy and the debate on its political role is becoming more passionate. An historical, sociological and economic analysis of the development of soil science would allow stressing the importance of the scientific autonomy and identity of the soil science. At the same time, practical steps should be taken to allow a better integration of social needs in future research programmes in soil science. 6. Enhancing research: promoting decision support systems Valuable and appropriate information resources are available but are largely underexploited. Their better use by decision makers particularly at policy level requires action to be taken in specialized mediation or decision support systems which consists of the identification of practical knowledge for use by decision makers in a specific context (rewriting, graphic illustration, simulation models, etc...). Developing decision support systems is of course a different activity from producing scientific knowledge. However, a dialogue needs to be promoted within the scientific institutions and with donors to allow the development of these tools by soil scientists without them being penalized for such activities. The development of decision support systems in such cases would be the result of a process which includes:. the assessment of existing tools,. an analysis of the decision making process,. an awareness of technological development, particularly in information technology. The use of multi-media information support, in addition to printed documents opens new possibilities to demonstrate pedological processes and complex interactions (systematic approach) as well as the improvement of the understanding of decision makers of the complex phenomena (capacity to visualise the landscape). Great efforts are being made by FAO to improve decision support tools, particularly in land and water information systems. In order to satisfy the most complex queries and in a perspective of multi-disciplinarity and integrated approaches, FAO has also introduced important changes both in its structure and in its programme. These changes reflect the Organization s involvement in favour of the sustainable agriculture as defined above. 7. Conclusions The importance of the need for changes in soil science to better address the new social demands and challenges is often underestimated by the political and scientific community and even by the development agencies. It appears necessary to underline clearly the need for a greater openness of this science to social needs, and a going beyond the simple statement of principles. These changes represent a real challenge to the scientific

5 comunity in soil science forcing us to reconsider some principles which often appear to be far too simplistic.