A symposium on soil health indicators
The Roullier Endowment Fund is a partner in the symposium organized by the Adebiotech think tank on June 25 and 26 on the topic “Operational Biological Indicators of Soil Health: Scientific Assessment and Technical, Economic, and Policy Perspectives,” to be held at Biocitech Paris-Romainville.
The objectives of this event are to take stock of research-validated bioindicator tools for soil quality that are available to develop a technical assessment usable by various land users: farmers, as well as technical advisors, urban planners, managers of contaminated sites, and others. These tools will subsequently serve as a technical foundation for developing local, national, and European regulations and for guiding policies aimed at preserving and restoring soil health.
A Featured Theme for French Soils
France, for its part, is a pioneer in this field of research, having developed observation and monitoring networks for soil quality across its national territory for more than 20 years, which now enable it to maintain national inventories of its soil biodiversity. This knowledge is now being put to use to better identify agronomic strategies in rural areas and urban planning approaches in cities that can help preserve or restore soil biodiversity.
Over the course of two days, more than 40 speakers will address these topics: researchers in the field, users of bioindicator tools from the agricultural, urban, and industrial sectors, private technical service laboratories, engineering firms, legal experts, and policymakers involved in soil health regulations. These stakeholders will come together for plenary sessions, roundtable discussions, and scientific poster presentations.
Soil Health: A Critical Issue
Our soils are of paramount importance to certain sectors and fulfill vital functions that underpin many services within our societies:
- They are crucial to agriculture, enabling us to feed the world’s population: 95% of our food production depends on soils.
- They are our primary solution for mitigating climate change, serving as the largest reservoir for storing carbon from the atmosphere.
- They regulate the water cycle and ensure water quality.
- They support the foundations of our homes and infrastructure.
- They are a reservoir of biodiversity, hosting nearly 60% of our planet’s total biodiversity.cs
Putting Soil Health Back at the Center of the Debate
Despite all these benefits, our soils have been undervalued and even mistreated since the beginning of the industrial era: water and the atmosphere have always been regarded as common goods, whereas soil is viewed as a private and personal asset – an inert medium for production or construction. Regulations concerning its protection often appear inadequate. Today, it is recognized that two-thirds of soils are degraded from both a physical and biological standpoint, whether at the national or European level (overly intensive agricultural practices, land-use policies that pay little attention to soil preservation, industrial soil contamination, etc.).
In this context, the Adebiotech symposium “Operational Biological Indicators of Soil Health: Scientific Assessment and Technical, Economic, and Policy Perspectives” aims to mobilize land users as well as national and European public policymakers to put soil health back at the center of the debate.