A proposal for the assessment of soil security: Soil functions, soil services and threats to soil
Human societies face six existential challenges to their sustainable development. These challenges have been previously addressed by a myriad of concepts such as soil conservation, soil quality, and soil health. Yet, of these, only soil security attempts to integrate the six existential challenges c...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-03-01
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| Series: | Soil Security |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667006223000035 |
| _version_ | 1797871493596577792 |
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| author | Sandra J. Evangelista Damien J. Field Alex B. McBratney Budiman Minasny Wartini Ng José Padarian Mercedes Román Dobarco Alexandre M.J.-C. Wadoux |
| author_facet | Sandra J. Evangelista Damien J. Field Alex B. McBratney Budiman Minasny Wartini Ng José Padarian Mercedes Román Dobarco Alexandre M.J.-C. Wadoux |
| author_sort | Sandra J. Evangelista |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Human societies face six existential challenges to their sustainable development. These challenges have been previously addressed by a myriad of concepts such as soil conservation, soil quality, and soil health. Yet, of these, only soil security attempts to integrate the six existential challenges concurrently through the five biophysical and socio-economic dimensions of capacity, condition, capital, connectivity and codification. In this paper, we highlight past and existing concepts, and make a proposal for a provisional assessment of soil security. The proposal addresses three roles of soil: soil functions, soil services and threats to soil. For each identified role, we indicate a potential, but not exhaustive, list of indicators that characterise the five dimensions of soil security. We also raise issues of quantification and combination of indicators briefly. We found that capacity and condition are theoretically easier to measure and quantify than connectivity and codification. The dimension capital might be conveniently assessed using indicators that relate to the economic value of soils. The next step is to test this proposal for which we make recommendations on potential study cases and examples. We conclude that the five dimensions of soil security can potentially be assessed quantitatively and comprehensively using indicators that characterise each role, but also found that there is need for further work to devise an operational measurement methodology to estimate connectivity of people to soil. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T00:43:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2ed9d130656043d3909a2ebb0f98dc20 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2667-0062 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T00:43:44Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Soil Security |
| spelling | doaj.art-2ed9d130656043d3909a2ebb0f98dc202023-03-14T04:09:09ZengElsevierSoil Security2667-00622023-03-0110100086A proposal for the assessment of soil security: Soil functions, soil services and threats to soilSandra J. Evangelista0Damien J. Field1Alex B. McBratney2Budiman Minasny3Wartini Ng4José Padarian5Mercedes Román Dobarco6Alexandre M.J.-C. Wadoux7Sydney Institute of Agriculture & School of Life & Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaSydney Institute of Agriculture & School of Life & Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaSydney Institute of Agriculture & School of Life & Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaSydney Institute of Agriculture & School of Life & Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaCorresponding author.; Sydney Institute of Agriculture & School of Life & Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaSydney Institute of Agriculture & School of Life & Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaSydney Institute of Agriculture & School of Life & Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaSydney Institute of Agriculture & School of Life & Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, AustraliaHuman societies face six existential challenges to their sustainable development. These challenges have been previously addressed by a myriad of concepts such as soil conservation, soil quality, and soil health. Yet, of these, only soil security attempts to integrate the six existential challenges concurrently through the five biophysical and socio-economic dimensions of capacity, condition, capital, connectivity and codification. In this paper, we highlight past and existing concepts, and make a proposal for a provisional assessment of soil security. The proposal addresses three roles of soil: soil functions, soil services and threats to soil. For each identified role, we indicate a potential, but not exhaustive, list of indicators that characterise the five dimensions of soil security. We also raise issues of quantification and combination of indicators briefly. We found that capacity and condition are theoretically easier to measure and quantify than connectivity and codification. The dimension capital might be conveniently assessed using indicators that relate to the economic value of soils. The next step is to test this proposal for which we make recommendations on potential study cases and examples. We conclude that the five dimensions of soil security can potentially be assessed quantitatively and comprehensively using indicators that characterise each role, but also found that there is need for further work to devise an operational measurement methodology to estimate connectivity of people to soil.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667006223000035CapacityConditionCapabilityCapitalConnectivityCodification |
| spellingShingle | Sandra J. Evangelista Damien J. Field Alex B. McBratney Budiman Minasny Wartini Ng José Padarian Mercedes Román Dobarco Alexandre M.J.-C. Wadoux A proposal for the assessment of soil security: Soil functions, soil services and threats to soil Soil Security Capacity Condition Capability Capital Connectivity Codification |
| title | A proposal for the assessment of soil security: Soil functions, soil services and threats to soil |
| title_full | A proposal for the assessment of soil security: Soil functions, soil services and threats to soil |
| title_fullStr | A proposal for the assessment of soil security: Soil functions, soil services and threats to soil |
| title_full_unstemmed | A proposal for the assessment of soil security: Soil functions, soil services and threats to soil |
| title_short | A proposal for the assessment of soil security: Soil functions, soil services and threats to soil |
| title_sort | proposal for the assessment of soil security soil functions soil services and threats to soil |
| topic | Capacity Condition Capability Capital Connectivity Codification |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667006223000035 |
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