Sustainable Soil Management Dan Pennock Canadian representative Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils
Global Soil Partnership Formed by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN in 2013 All 135 member states of the FAO are partners, along with NGOs, universities, etc.
Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils Formed to provide scientific support for the work of the GSP 27 members from 7 regions
Global Soil Partnership The overarching goal for all parties is to ensure that soils are managed sustainably and that degraded soils are rehabilitated or restored. World Soil Charter 2015
1 st and 2 nd Drafts by ITPS 2013 Passed by GSP Plenary 2014 Adopted by FAO Council 2014
World Soil Charter has new definition of sustainable soil management Soil management is sustainable if the supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services provided by soil are maintained or enhanced without significantly impairing the soil functions that enable those services or biodiversity. (WSC 2015)
Focus is on soil management Soil management is sustainable if the supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services provided by soil are maintained or enhanced without significantly impairing the soil functions that enable those services or biodiversity. (WSC 2015)
Is this a healthy soil? http://www.thedailystar.net/sites/default/files/beta2/uploads/2013/0 7/fr0150.jpg
New definition based on an Ecosystem Services model Soil management is sustainable if the supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services provided by soil are maintained or enhanced without significantly impairing the soil functions that enable those services or biodiversity. (WSC 2015)
Soil management is sustainable if the supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services provided by soil are maintained or enhanced without significantly impairing the soil functions that enable those services or biodiversity. (WSC 2015)
Soil management is sustainable if the supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services provided by soil are maintained or enhanced without significantly impairing the soil functions that enable those services or biodiversity. (WSC 2015) Land use change (for example, native land to crop production) inevitably causes soil change FAO traditionally viewed almost all humaninduced soil change as soil degradation
Scientific challenge is to find the thresholds at which significant impairment of soil functions and soil biodiversity occurs and to implement management that ensures these thresholds are not crossed
Next sentence in definition states the main challenge for SSM The balance between the supporting and provisioning services for plant production and the regulating services the soil provides for water quality and availability and for atmospheric greenhouse gas composition is a particular concern. (WSC 2015)
Implications of new definition Previous assessments of sustainability (or soil quality or soil health) have been too focused on soil productivity ; effects of soil management on air and water under-represented
Example of Soil Erosion
Focus is on the effects of erosion on soil productivity
Transport of sediment, sediment boundnutrients, and soluble nutrients to water bodies affects water quality Regulation of water quality is one of the ecosystem services provided by the soil
https://www.ontario.ca/document/water-quality-15-streamsagricultural-watersheds-southwestern-ontario-2004-2009#section-4
(Provincial Water Quality Objective)
Global Distribution of Dead Zones NOAA 2008
Soil management is sustainable if the supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural services provided by soil are maintained or enhanced without significantly impairing the soil functions that enable those services or biodiversity. (WSC 2015) Soil management that fails to maintain water quality parameters above regulatory thresholds is unsustainable
Evaluation of Sustainable Soil Management Practices by ITPS/GSP
Approved by FAO Council December 2016
Example of evaluation of sustainable soil management practices Most widely implemented practice to reduce agriculturally induced soil erosion and reduce nutrient runoff is reduced tillage/no-till 111 M ha in 2009 (Derpsch et al. 2010)
Era of the meta-analysis Structured evaluation of individual studies to determine a general result No-till effects have been assessed in a number of global meta-analyses
No-till reduced soil loss by 60% compared to conventional tillage in temperate climates; no significant difference between the two in sub-tropical and tropical climates
No-till reduced runoff by 27% compared to conventional tillage; no significant difference between the two on clay-dominated soils
No-till reduced yields by 5.1% across all observations Greatest yield reductions in tropical latitudes (-15.1%) and least in temperate (-3.4%) Reduction least for cereals and greatest for rice (-7.5%), maize (-7.6%), and horticultural (-21.4%) crops
Authors use aridity index: MAP/PET Saskatoon: Dry Guelph: Humid Effect on Yield (%) Pittelkow et al. 2015 Field Crops Research
Global Assessment of No-Till No-till a proven measure to reduce water erosion in dry temperate regions; adoption results in minor yield increases Minor yield decreases in humid temperate regions; limited runoff/erosion benefit on high clay soils Considerable evidence that it is ill-suited to sub-tropical and tropical regions
Effects on water quality? Reduction in sediment export in temperate regions a clear net benefit for water quality Effect on nutrient export less clear
Conservation tillage compared to conventional in paired watershed study
Conservation tillage compared to conventional in paired watershed study Conservation tillage: Reduced sediment export by 65%
Conservation tillage compared to conventional in paired watershed study Conservation tillage: Reduced sediment export by 65% Reduced nitrogen export by 68%
Conservation tillage compared to conventional in paired watershed study Conservation tillage: Reduced sediment export by 65% Reduced nitrogen export by 68% Increased phosphorus export by 12% Phosphorus export primarily due to loss of soluble forms in high volume snowmelt runoff
Research/Policy Development Priority Locally/regionally appropriate measures need to be identified or developed to address specific threats to Ecosystem Services Programs that support adoption of these measures developed and implemented
Recognition and support of producers that practice sustainable soil management Need regionally/provincially developed certification criteria
Approved by FAO Council December 2016
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Soil health, also called soil quality, is defined in agricultural terms as the soil's fitness to support crop growth without becoming degraded or otherwise harming the environment.