World’s soil may be degraded in 60 years: UN

All of the world’s top soil could be gone in the next 60 years if the current rate of degradation continues, a prominent UN official says.

Nearly a third of the soil across the world has already been degraded, and it takes 1,000 years for three centimeters of top soil to be generated, Maria-Helena Semedo of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told a forum marking World Soil Day in the Italian capital Rome on Friday.

“Soils are the basis of life. Ninety-five percent of our food comes from the soil,” Semedo said.

Experts say chemical-heavy farming methods, deforestation, which raises erosion, and global warming are among the causes of soil destruction.

“We are losing 30 soccer fields of soil every minute, mostly due to intensive farming,” Volkert Engelsman from the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements told the forum.

“Organic (farming) may not be the only solution but it’s the single best (option) I can think of,” Engelsman said.

Soil is a significant factor in absorbing carbon and filtering water, FAO says.

Soil degradation causes a vicious cycle, in which less carbon is stored, the world gets hotter, and the land is further eroded.

MSM/AS/MHB