Agricultural production has increased considerably over the years, but little attention has been paid to soil biodiversity and the possible impact of new technological practices on agroecosystems. All the problems that the overexploitation of the soil entails have been seen in recent decades, but some new European strategies are starting to consider the earth as a living system and its relationship with other species.
The services provided by nature are important for agriculture and food production, biodiversity plays a key role in the functioning of these ecosystem services.
While agricultural development has made many advances, they have come at a significant cost to soil biodiversity. This is largely due to a lack of understanding of the situation.
Increased productivity at the expense of soil life
While it is true that many of these advances since the 1950s have increased productivity and food availability, they have also compromised soil health, increasing threats such as erosion or salinization in some places and, in most, decreasing the number of species that the soil inhabit.
According to official sources, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) or the IBPES (Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services), the global extinction rate of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and flowering plants is 100 to 1,000 times higher than in the past. This loss of biodiversity is due to climate change and human activities such as poorly managed agricultural practices.
Soils are home to various forms of life, about 25% of the planet’s biodiversity lives there. And according to FAO data, they provide us with 95% of the food we eat, directly or indirectly.
Currently, we only know about 1% of soil biodiversity that is multifunctionally related and contributes to many of the ecosystem services they provide. FAO data provided to the United Nations confirm that soils are being lost 13 to 18 times faster than they can be regenerated. If this overexploitation continues, millions of living beings will be at risk and with them the world’s food production.
Strategies to avoid the loss of soil biodiversity
Europe is implementing initiatives that will reduce the use of inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides —such as Biodiversity, ‘Farm to Fork’, Circular Economy or Soil Strategies—taking into account the current need. These changes are already starting to happen.
The process is long and complex, but the perspective on the role of the soil as a mere support and supplier of nutrients for crops is changing. The tendency is to understand it as a complex and living system that works in a web of relationships that make up life itself.
To achieve the sustainability and resilience of fields, it is necessary to understand the functions that the soil performs, improve its management and, above all, understand the role played by the biodiversity that resides there and how essential the processes on which the systems depend are. agrarian.
Management with sustainable practices
Managing soil and its biodiversity through sustainable practices can work as a ‘nature-based solution’. In this way, agricultural practices are based on the functions of the ecosystem and the services it provides, in order to respond to the global challenge of food security.
For this, knowledge and research must be improved and deepened. There are many ways to assess how crops interact with soil biodiversity. To maintain a resilient agricultural system, it is important to assess this network of organisms and how their interactions affect the long-term stability of the system.
Mercedes Muñoz Canas. author of the research, is responsible for the line of work of the Mediterranean Cooperation Center of the IUCN dedicated to the conservation of nature and food systems in the Mediterranean basin, and which, since 2018, has focused its efforts on integrating biodiversity and reducing the effects of climate change in agricultural fields.
with information from agenciesinc