Soil is so incredibly important for food security and essential ecosystem functions and so the United Nations General Assembly declared 2015 the International Year of Soils. The aim of this declaration is to increase awareness about and gain international support for the world’s soil.
Globally only 15% of land is suitable for growing crops. Maintaining healthy soil on this land is essential if we are to feed an ever-increasing global population. Currently around a third of all soils in the world is degraded. Worse still, 75% of this degradation is severe.
IFOAM [International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements] have created a fact sheet which will enlighten you on many soil based facts. Click on the following link to visit the pdf: http://www.ifoam-eu.org/sites/wwoof.org.uk/files/oa_and_soils_web.pdf
The Soil Association are campaigning to protect the soil and raise awareness. The following link will take you to the Soil Matters campaign page: http://www.soilassociation.org/soils
The following film is produced by Navdanya, an NGO in India co-founded by Vandana Shiva the well known campaigner for seed freedom and food sovereignty. The film is called The Living Soil and can be watched for free on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/128692860
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