From policy to shared responsibility

Soil across sectors and daily life

Soil services extend across many areas of society. Soils regulate water flows, support biodiversity, influence climate processes, provide a foundation for infrastructure, and underpin food and material systems.

Because of this, soil is connected to:

• urban development;
• landscape planning;
• agriculture and forestry;
• ecosystem management;
• industry and construction;
• education and communication;
• food systems and consumption.

Responsibility for soil protection is therefore distributed across many actors, including decision-makers, planners, land managers, businesses, educators, communities, and citizens. Soil is not governed by one sector alone, and it is not influenced by one group alone.

© Soil across sectors and land uses, by Dieringer63, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons, no changes were made to the original photo.