Soil and land resources will be crucial for the implementation of the Sustainable development goals
Sunday, September 27. The world continues to make its way around the sun, while the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been ratified in New York with much optimism, and much of our world around us is in turmoil. People flee from their home countries, often losing their lives on the way. Conflicts prevail in many countries making considerations of long-term development pathways an elusive goal. In the Anthropocene – our age of mankind – the degradation of natural ecosystems often goes unabated.
However, there are a wealth of policy initiatives and concrete local actions available and we do have a great deal of the necessary scientific knowledge at our disposal. Civil society movements, private sector action and concrete case studies demonstrate that transformation is possible. Experience shows that development pathways are not carved in stone but malleable. Alliances across different stakeholder groups can achieve remarkable changes. More than 600 participants from 80 countries from around the globe met in Berlin at the occasion of the third Global Soil Week “Soil. The Substance of Transformation“ to discuss ways to attain sustainable soil management and responsible land governance.
View the short film below for some take-aways from this year’s Global Soil Week, set against the backdrop of international negotiation of global goals. An integrated and inclusive approach will be key to the success of these agendas. Our much needed global goals are in need of human rights based soil protection and rehabilitation policies.
The Global Soil Week is a collective process and a knowledge platform for sustainable soil management and responsible land governance worldwide.