Soil covers most of our land. It supports life on earth, and is essential for agriculture, forestry, and ecosystem functions. However, modern agricultural practices, deforestation, mining and industrial pollution are degrading soils at alarming rates. According to the United Nations, over a third of the world's soil is already degraded, and over 90% could become degraded by 2050. Every 5 seconds, the equivalent of one soccer field is lost due to soil erosion. Degraded soils are also responsible for the release of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, between 25 and 40 billion tons per year, matching the greenhouse gas emissions emitted by all vehicles globally.

Improving our knowledge of soil and how to maintain healthy soil through conservation is critical. Reforestation, restoration of degraded land and adopting agroecological practices, like crop rotation, cover crops, agroforestry, composting, are all strategies that will boost the biodiversity of our fields, and improve soil health. On the contrary, monocultures of identical crops makes farmers dependent on the use of chemical inputs – such as fertilizers and pesticides – to protect plants, driving pollution, soil erosion and poor soil health.

Draw 5 cards. Add any cards with Ecology and/or Innovation tags to your hand. Discard the others.
You may take this action once per round.

• FAO warns 90 per cent of Earth’s topsoil at risk by 2050 (UN News)

• World Soil Day (UN)

• Land Degradation and Restoration (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES)

• Campaign for your government to provide support and training for farmers seeking to transition to  regenerative processes.

• If you work in agricultural request training and support from your union to transition to new methods.