Soil health inquiry launched
2 December 2015
Healthy soils (both urban and rural) are important for food production and human wellbeing, and the Environmental Audit Committee has launched its inquiry into Soil Health.
- Inquiry: Soil health
- Government report: Safeguarding our soils - A strategy for England (PDF 509 KB)
- Environmental Audit Committee
Measuring soil health
Soil health cannot be measured directly, so indicators (physical, chemical, and biological properties, processes, or characteristics) are generally used. These measurable properties of soil or plants provide clues about how well the soil can function.
In 2009, a government report estimated that 2.2 million tonnes of top soil was lost every year costing British farmers £9million in lost production. Academic research also suggests that soil loss or degradation: reduces land fertility increasing the need for fertilisers and pesticides; releases carbon contributing to climate change; and reduces its water storage capacity contributing to an increase in flooding. Contaminated land in urban areas also impacts public health.
The same 2009 report, ‘Safeguarding our soils - A strategy for England' set out a vision to tackling soil degradation by 2030. In 2011, the then-Government published best practice advice to farmers, growers and land managers on minimising the risk of causing pollution while protecting natural resources, including soil. Defra has also supported the Soil Security Programme which conducts research on soil health. Despite this the Soil Association and others have criticised successive governments on their approach to protecting soils suggesting that current measures do not give sufficient protection for soils.
Terms of Reference
The Committee invites written submissions, no later than 5pm on Thursday 14 January 2016 on:
- How could soil health best be measured and monitored? How could the Government develop a strategy for tracking soil health?
- What are the benefits that healthy soils can provide to society?
- What are the consequences of failing to protect soil health for the environment, public health, food security, and other areas?
- What measures are currently in place to ensure that good soil health is promoted? And what further measures should the Government and other organisations consider in order to secure soil health?
- What role (if any) should soil health play in the Government's upcoming 25 year plan for the natural environment?
Evidence should be submitted via the written submission form on the inquiry page.
The word limit is 3000 words.
Further information
Image: iStockphoto