ENVIS Centre, Ministry of Environment & Forest, Govt. of India

Printed Date: Friday, March 29, 2024

Upcoming Event

World Soil Day 2017

APPEAL OF THE DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENT ON
WORLD SOIL DAY 5TH DECEMBER 2017
 
World Soil Day 2017 to the theme "Caring for the Planet starts from the Ground".
 
World Soil Day is an annual observance celebrated on December 5th. The soil is a vital thing for any living organism for surviving in the mother earth. World Soil Day celebrates the importance of soil as a critical component of the natural system and as a vital contributor to the human commonwealth through its contribution to food, water and energy security and as a mitigator of biodiversity loss and climate change.  Healthy soils are essential for healthy plant growth, human nutrition, ecosystem services such as water filtration and supporting a landscape that is more resilient to the impacts of drought, flood or fire. Healthy soil helps to regulate the Earth’s climate and stores more carbon than all of the world’s forests combined. Healthy soils are fundamental to our survival.  However, many of our land management practices, including agriculture, forestry and fire, have caused significant damage to our landscape, resulting in widespread degradation and depletion of soil health. Soil carbon content has been severely reduced, due to a lack of organic matter, and resultant water-holding capacity is poor. Nutrient availability for plants and animals has been compromised by poor soil health and structure and the ever-increasing reliance on chemical inputs.
 
The best way to celebrate this day is to do exactly what scientists the world over so badly needs to: educate ourselves. An enormous amount of damage is done to the planet every year due not to ill will, but to ignorance many of us simply do not know enough about the earth to know when we are damaging it, sometimes irreparably. As it turns out, there are a number of things we regular people can do that can greatly help the soil we live off of remain in good condition. For example, we can plant a rain garden. For those of you who may not know what a rain garden is, it’s a shallow depression in the yard or garden rainwater can easily flow into, which helps reduce soil erosion.
 
  • Promote the World Soil Day: use the logo, our web banners and other campaign materials;
  • Raise awareness of the benefits of soil: use the messages and tell us about success stories;
  • Share your knowledge. Develop the capacities of stakeholders by organizing seminars and workshops;
  • Contribute to the formulation of new policy proposals where soil is properly addressed;

 
   On this World Soil Day, I urge all to take responsibility for conservation of soil “Caring for the Planet starts from the Ground”, the theme for the World Soil Day 2017, which implores us to get into outdoors and with nature, to appreciate its beauty and its importance, and to take forward the call to protect the soil on Earth that we share.