Sustainable Soil Management Pillar 1 of the Global Soil Partnership - Sally Bunning
Sustainable Soil Management - soilcc.ca · “Soil management is sustainable if the supporting,...
Transcript of Sustainable Soil Management - soilcc.ca · “Soil management is sustainable if the supporting,...
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
1st and 2nd 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)
http://www.thedailystar.net/sites/default/files/beta2/uploads/2013/07/fr0150.jpg
Is this a healthy soil?
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 human-induced 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 bound-nutrients, 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-streams-agricultural-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
Effect on Yield (%)
Pittelkow et al. 2015 Field Crops Research
Authors use
aridity index: MAP/PET
Saskatoon: Dry
Guelph: Humid
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
Thank you for your attention
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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.”