Excerpt
From the dawn of settled agriculture 10 to 13 millennia ago to the onset of the industrial revolution ~1750, principal soil functions were (1) medium for plant growth, (2) foundation for buildings and civil structures, and (3) raw material for industry (e.g., bricks). Considering the serious global issues of the 21st century, additional soil functions include (4) sequestering carbon to mitigate climate change, (5) denaturing and filtering pollutants, (6) disposing of industrial and urban wastes, (7) being an archive of human and planetary history, (8) being repository of germplasm and biodiversity, (9) maintaining and strengthening cycles of water and elements (N, P, S) and moderating impacts of natural and anthropogenic perturbations on the environment, and (10) maintaining aesthetic and cultural and artistic values of landscape and ecosystem and preserving cultural heritage. Of these 10 soil functions, sustaining and enhancing net primary productivity (NPP) and agronomic yields to meet the demands (for food, feed, fiber, and fuel) of the growing world population is an urgent issue of global importance. Equally important are the concerns about climate change, water quality, and biodiversity.
It is in this context that the importance of sustainable management of world soils cannot be overemphasized. The issue is…
Footnotes
Rattan Lal is a professor of soil science and director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
- © 2009 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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