Global Monitoring of Soil Resources for Agriculture: Feasible Options for Early Implementation

摘要

Information on the status and trends in the condition of global soil ! resources for agriculture is urgently needed to drive policy for their protection and to support future food security. Current information on the extent and condition of global soil resources is inadequate and poorly collated. This paper reviews technical options and the feasibility of implementing a global soil monitoring system. Remote sensing methods are available for measuring indicators of change in the extent of soil resources (e.g. land area under arable production; area sealed by urban and infrastructure development). A soil monitoring network (SMN) based on physical sampling of strata corresponding to soil types and bio-geographical regions appears best suited to globalground-based soil monitoring. Reliable, agreed methods are available for estimating some forms of degradation (e.g. soil erosion by water, soil organic matter decline and salinisation). Thus there is an existing technical basis for establishing a globalsoil monitoring system and investment in this should be an urgent priority for the international community.