by Matteo Cavallito<\/p>\n
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The loss of biodiversity in urban areas linked to decreasing green spaces and increasing pollution is reducing people’s exposure to the benefits provided by soil microbes<\/strong>. Within this framework, city residents experience an increased risk of developing allergies and other diseases in the absence of interventions designed to reverse the phenomenon. A group of scientists from China, Europe and Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, says in a paper<\/a> published in the journal Njp Urban Sustainability.<\/p>\n “With 70% of the human population expected to live in cities by 2050, we argue that we need to maintain contact with healthy soil both indoors and outdoors to maintain and improve immune fitness, help to suppress pathogens and benefit the human microbiome,\u201d says<\/a> leading author Professor Xin Sun<\/strong>, who leads the Urban Soil Ecology Group at the Institute of Urban Environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n