What is Soil Conservation?
Why do we need to address this issue?
How does it affect us and our future generation ?
Are you aware of it ?
Approximately 71 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water. Almost every human lives on the remaining 29 percent land mass.
Soil provides the nutrients essential for plant growth, animal life and millions of microorganisms. However, if soil becomes unhealthy, unstable, or polluted, the life cycle stops.
Soil conservation is a key concern for farmers since it is vital not only to use land productively reaping high yields, but being able to do so in the future as well
Zillions of living creatures feed on and live on the soil. Including humans, plants, insects, algae, and micro organisms. Every living being needs to feed on the organic content in the soil. The ecosystem in the Rainforest is perfectly balanced due to the non-interventions of humans. The soil in Rainforests is more fertile and rich in content due to the foliage, animal excretions, dead plants, water and other content that adds to the value of the soil.
An average rainforest soil contains about 70% of the organic content in a soil, whereas an average agricultural soil contains only about 3% of the organic content.
In some cases the organic content is below 0.5 percent in countries like India
The soils quality has degraded due to the absence of animals, foliage, and older techniques in agriculture. Cows were replaced with Machines which resulted in the absence of natural manures and other organic qualities.
Focusing on the quantity and profits rather than the quality and longevity of the soil led us here.
United Nations released a paper stating
Without soils we cannot sustain life on earth and where soil is lost it cannot be renewed on a human timeline. The current escalating rate of soil degradation threatens the capacity of future generations to meet their needs.
Experts at the conference warn that some 33 percent of world soil is already moderately to highly degraded due to erosion, nutrient depletion, acidification, urbanisation, and chemical pollution.
It takes up to 1,000 years to form one centimeter of topsoil, but this one centimeter can be lost with just one heavy rainfall if soil cover is not protected”.
If the trend goes towards this slope, we will experience a food shortage within 40 years.
Future predictions include desertification, frequent landslides. Droughts, Dried up land and non-agricultural