To combat soil degradation, innovative solutions able to combine environmental protection and economic and social development are emerging.
Bioeconomy comprises parts of the circular economy that use renewable biological resources from land and sea. It can be a strategic tool to achieve territorial regeneration by safeguarding soil fertility, restoring organic matter, building a new relationship between cities and agriculture, developing innovative facilities and sustainable products able to avoid accumulation and dispersion in the environment.
Over the last years, a number of standards, certification schemes and international initiatives recommended to improve the uptake of sustainable soil organic matter management practices.
Soil organic carbon stocks (SOC) increase soil organic matter (SOM) and therefore can contribute to reduce CO2 emissions produced by agriculture and, at the same time, improve food security (UN SDG 2 – Zero hunger).
It is estimated that carbon sequestration in soil provides a potential of negative emissions of 0.7 GtCeq/yr. Even though this actual potential cannot compensate for all of the anthropogenic emissions, it is sufficient to balance fossil fuel emissions in the European Union.
In this way, we could improve soil fertility and ecosystems productivity, by supporting important services provided by soils such as its quality, water filtration, erosion control, nutrient cycle, habitat and energy for soil organisms.
Even though the use of high quality compost represents a great opportunity to restore soil organic matter, currently 66% of organic waste in Europe is disposed of in landfill as well as sewage sludge from wastewater, which is often incinerated.
In the circular bioeconomy scenario, all these resources can contribute to restore soil fertility by promoting sustainable agriculture and regenerative practices able to include marginal lands. Farmers’ role is crucial to the success of this model, which makes farmers the custodians of the soil.
It’s beneath our feet but we never think about its value. We tread on it, we mistreat it, but a healthy, fertile soil means life. It’s time to take care of the soil and each one of us can and must make a difference.
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