{"id":33559,"date":"2025-01-25T15:23:39","date_gmt":"2025-01-25T14:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/?p=33559"},"modified":"2025-01-25T15:28:40","modified_gmt":"2025-01-25T14:28:40","slug":"atlas-of-pody-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/2025\/01\/25\/atlas-of-pody-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Soil Atlas 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/euagenda.eu\/publications\/download\/606266\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Soil Atlas 2024<\/span><\/a> is a publication that emphasizes the importance of soil as <strong>the basic source of life<\/strong> on Earth. Soil is considered to be <strong>the most diverse habitat<\/strong> on Earth and is essential for food production, water regulation and climate. Yet it is threatened by degradation, which impacts agricultural productivity, food security and ecosystem health.<\/p>\n<p>The main points of the publication include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Soil degradation<\/strong>: Approximately <strong>a third of the world&#039;s soils are degraded<\/strong>, with more than 40 percent of them located in Africa. Land degradation is caused by unsustainable agricultural practices, deforestation and poor land management. In Europe, <strong>60% soils classified as damaged<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Desertification<\/strong>: Intensive agriculture and the climate crisis are leading to serious land degradation and desertification also in Europe, including countries with temperate and humid climates.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Climate change<\/strong>: Healthy soil is key to <strong>carbon storage<\/strong>. Soil <strong>stores more carbon than forests<\/strong>It also helps mitigate the impacts of extreme weather, such as storms and floods.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Corporate power<\/strong>: Excessive use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides damages the soil and biodiversity. These products bring huge profits to multinational companies that <strong>influence governments<\/strong>, which prevents the implementation of necessary policies to protect people and the environment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Nitrogen fertilizers<\/strong>: Synthetic fertilizers are damaging to the climate, but industrial agriculture is heavily dependent on them. Fertilizer prices have led to increases in food commodity prices, which <strong>African countries are most affected<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Phosphorus<\/strong>: Phosphorus is <strong>bioessential<\/strong> element, but its sources are limited. Industrial fertilizers are made from phosphate rocks, the supplies of which are finite.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Green fertilizers<\/strong>: Producing synthetic nitrogen fertilizers using renewable energy can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, it does not solve the problems associated with the overuse of synthetic fertilizers.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Land conflicts<\/strong>: Soil plays an important role in environmental protection, but <strong>intensive land use<\/strong> on climate action can lead to conflicts and <strong>human rights violations<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Carbon credits<\/strong>: Soil has a large capacity to store carbon, which is used to create tradable carbon credits. But these can actually <strong>undermine efforts to reduce emissions<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Human rights<\/strong>: Fair access to land is <strong>the basis for the realization of human rights<\/strong>, such as the right to food. Yet deadly conflicts over land persist.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Women and land<\/strong>: Secure access to land is important for long-term soil conservation. However, in many African countries, <strong>Women&#039;s land rights uncertain<\/strong>, which hinders investment in sustainable land management.<\/li>\n<li><strong>European Union<\/strong>: EU <strong>does not have a comprehensive legal framework for soil protection<\/strong> and previous attempts to create it have been <strong>unsuccessful<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Agroecology<\/strong>: Agroecology represents a response to the industrial model of agriculture, which <strong>exploits people and damages the land<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hidden costs<\/strong>: Land degradation has many <strong>invisible costs<\/strong> \u2013 environmental, health, social and economic. <strong>Actual Cost Accounting (TCA)<\/strong> allows these costs to be made visible.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Soil restoration<\/strong>: In India, many farmers are returning to alternative land management practices that were <strong>damaged by excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Desert restoration<\/strong>: In the fight against desertification in the Sahara and Sahel, they are proving themselves <strong>local, bottom-up techniques<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Soilless farming<\/strong>: Vertical indoor farming allows crops to be grown all year round. Requires <strong>less space<\/strong> and promises <strong>reducing the consumption of water, fertilizers and pesticides<\/strong>But it must be part of a broader transformation of food systems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The publication also emphasizes that soil protection is <strong>essential for the future<\/strong> and that it is necessary <strong>cooperate in its protection<\/strong>It offers an overview of various aspects of soil and at the same time calls for <strong>concrete steps<\/strong> for its protection and sustainable use. <em><strong>Spring<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Glossary of key terms<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Soil:<\/strong> The uppermost layer of the Earth&#039;s crust, which consists of minerals, organic matter, water, air, and living organisms and is the basis for plant growth and life on Earth.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Soil degradation:<\/strong> Deterioration of soil quality due to natural and human factors that reduce its fertility and ability to fulfill its ecosystem functions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Erosion:<\/strong> The removal of topsoil by water, wind, or other natural forces, leading to loss of nutrients and deterioration of fertility.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Salinization:<\/strong> The accumulation of salts in the soil, which inhibits plant growth and reduces soil fertility.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Land grabbing:<\/strong> Large-scale land acquisition by companies, banks and investment funds, often with the complicity of national elites, leading to the displacement of local communities and human rights violations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Carbon credit:<\/strong> A certificate representing the storage of one tonne of carbon dioxide in soil, forests or other systems, used in trading under climate policy mechanisms.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Agroecology:<\/strong> An approach to agriculture that focuses on integrating ecological principles into agricultural practices to increase the sustainability and resilience of agricultural systems.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Desertification:<\/strong> The process of decreasing soil fertility and drying out in arid and semi-arid regions, leading to the spread of desert conditions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Humus:<\/strong> Organic matter in the soil, which is created by the decomposition of plant and animal remains by microorganisms and is of key importance for the structure and vitality of the soil.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Other technique:<\/strong> A traditional agricultural technique used in dry areas, in which small holes are created to collect water and nutrients for planting plants.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vertical farming:<\/strong> An agricultural production technique in which plants are grown in several layers above each other in enclosed spaces, allowing for environmental control and efficient use of space.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Peatlands:<\/strong> Ecosystems formed by accumulated organic matter from dead plants, which store large amounts of carbon and contribute to the regulation of the water regime.<\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soil Atlas 2024 is a publication that highlights the importance of soil as a fundamental resource for life on Earth. Soil is considered the most diverse habitat on Earth and is essential for food production, water regulation and climate. However, it is threatened by degradation, which affects agricultural productivity, food security and ecosystem health. Highlights of the publication include: Degradation [\u2026]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-klimaticka-zmena"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}