Sustainable development

Many countries have now developed soil and land information systems. In the best examples of these, comprehensive information about the soils of a country or region are carefully placed in databases which can then be interrogated for a whole range of purposes. Information held can vary from simple records of soil profiles and analytical data to well-developed integrated computerised systems containing soil, climatic, land use, and other regional information. The capabilities of such systems range from purely storage and retrieval of data to dynamic modelling using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology for evaluating current and future policy requirements at national and regional scale. The other major development in the quest to obtain and make available more information about soils is the use of soil monitoring and the concept of indicators. 'Soil Indicators' are a suite of key components that can be measured and point to change in the environment. Indicators for soils that are proposed include acidity, organic matter and heavy metals. There is interest in having at least one biological indicator also and attempts are being made to derive a simple measurement to represent the extremely important biological components in soils. Certainly in some of the more developed countries there is the recognised need to know about changes that are taking place in soil quality. To this end many countries have set up soil monitoring schemes in which particular vital components of soils such as pH, organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and trace elements are measured on a regular but periodic basis. In this way changes in the status of soils can be assessed and steps taken to stop decline or excessive surpluses in key components. It is essential that knowledge of the nature of soils in many countries is improved and that more information about their soils obtained and not lost. Such development would certainly help in the bid to reduce erosion and other problems.

Essential improvements to safeguard the soils will require:

• a good understanding of the nature of soils and their properties

• strong national soil/land databases which can be regularly added to and which provide basic information on which to develop a sustainable land use policy

• a better knowledge of soil quality, and the soil quality requirements for particular land uses, involving the identification of the important parameters and changes in them over time

• a much better understanding of the effects of particular types of land use and management practice on soils

• a much better knowledge of ecosystems in which soils occur and, in particular, the soil ecosystem

• development of land use practices and management systems that do not degrade the soil

• lastly and very importantly better knowledge of the fate and behaviour of pollutants entering the soil from a wide range of sources

In the way forward, we need ways of monitoring, on a reasonably regular basis, the quality of soils at all levels from global, through to continental, national, regional and landscape/ catchment areas. It is only in this way that we shall be able to evaluate the sustainability of the use to which we are putting the land. It should be in the mind of everyone that in not many years hence we shall reach the critical stage when there are more people than the land can feed. It is therefore in the interest of everyone to ensure that soils will be well-managed into the future. Equally important in the quest for sustainable development is that there be measures put in place that protect the land, prevent the continuously increasing damage to land, and for those in authority to bring in protection measures. Already there are some signs that this is happening. A World Commission on Environment and Development was established in 1983 and an Earth Summit organised by the United Nations in 1987. So far, although the United Nations has Frameworks on a number of issues, regrettably there is still not one for Soils. A Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection has been proposed by the European Commission, and several countries now have Soil Action Plans and their equivalents. Perhaps a sustainable future for our soils is beginning to emerge.