Soils

ISSUES

Soil degradation

Soil provides living things with food, fibres and fuel. It supports wildlife and rural and urban activities. From the end of the 1940s to the beginning of the 1990s, over 90% of the degradation of productive land was due to overgrazing, deforestation and inappropriate agricultural practices. These changes in the soil affect over 2 billion people, most of the 852 million people suffering from hunger in particular.
Soil can therefore not be ignored in ecosystem mechanisms.

NEWS

US and Spain discuss cleanup of nuclear radiation

Japan plans futuristic farm in disaster zone

Lead From Old U.S. Batteries Sent to Mexico Raises Risks

Univers GoodPlanet par Netvibes

DEBATES

Desertification costs US$ 42 billions per year

Luc Gnacadja

This year, the UNCDD launchs the UN Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification. Read this interview with Mr Luc...

An ecosystem approach to drylands : building support for new development policies

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Deserts on our doorstep

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FOCUS

Ramparts against the desert

The sky darkens and fills with a reddish dust; the horizon turns an orange colour and visibility lowers to a few dozen metres: Beijing, capital of one of the world’s leading powers, is paralysed by a sandstorm. These storms can strike over several regions, covering an...

VIDEOS

04/11/2011	n this beautifully animated clip from Dirt! The Movie, Wangari Maathai...	13/10/2011	Desertification means hunger and poverty. It could affect more than a...
27/09/2010	With planning permission for Britain's biggest dairy at Nocton about to be...	20/09/2010	China's coal-fired power plants dump enough toxic coal ash to fill an...

GREEN TIPS

Un nouveau bitume végétal, moins polluant

Le Végécol est le premier composant végétal pouvant se substituer au bitume ne contenant aucun dérivé...

INDICATORS

Arable land
Desertification risks
Degraded soils
Ecological footprint

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