The first UN Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity is taking place from the 19th to the 22nd of April, with the aim of producing a World Soil Charter to support actions to protect soil biodiversity. You can attend the symposium webinars for free at 11pm (Auckland time) each day of the conference, by registering HERE.

With destructive farming and deforestation practises, we are losing our rich networks of topsoil 50 to 100 times faster than we can rebuild it. A recent article in The Guardian highlights the crisis of soil degradation, and the impact it has on our climate:

“Like ‘canaries in the coalmine’, when soil organisms begin to disappear, ecosystems will soon start to underperform, potentially hindering their vital functions for humankind,” researchers, led by Guerra, wrote in a paper published in Science that urged policymakers to take account of soil when considering conservation priorities.

“If we do not protect soils for the next generations, future above-ground biodiversity and food production cannot be guaranteed,” the 29 soil scientists warned.

‘A poor man’s rainforest’ by The Guardian

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Photo credit: Alissa Welker