The Soil Holds Our Future Well-being

SOURCE: http://www.ecologic.eu/ 

As I have already discussed, how much a nation produces strongly correlates with its economic status. Agricultural production has been and still is one of the major sections of our economy. Fertile land has guaranteed food for the United States and exports of crops to other nations. Yet, in the past one hundred years soil fertility decreased by 50%, so steps need to be taken to potentially stop this degradation and erosion due to poor land management.  Our government attempts to balance the environmental protection and economic growth through the Economics of Land Degradation Initiative. 

Its goal is to provide a platform for discussion between scientists, and economists, and private sectors which focus on developing data which applies to the economic benefits of land all over the world. The National Resources Conservation Service discusses some solutions posed by the ELD, that are meant to protect the natural ecosystems while maintaining economic benefits.

In a National Resources Conservation report the ELD states, 

“Land degradation results from mismanagement of land and thus deals with two interlocking, complex systems: the natural ecosystem and the human social system.”

What this means is that the health of soil should be protected to benefit the environment , but also humanity. Thus, the government recognizes that economic well being, which is connected to humanity’s social system, depends on environmental stability. To support this claim the report states, 

“Land degradation and economic growth or lack of it (poverty) are intractably linked; (people living in the lower part of the poverty spiral are in a weak position to provide the stewardship necessary to sustain the resource base. As a consequence, they move further down the poverty spiral—a vicious cycle is set in motion).” 

According to the quote action is taken in order to prevent the spreading of poverty and its cycling down. For example, in parts of India and Africa where non-sustainable farming methods are employed degraded soil has forced a large part of the population to leave their land and be faced with living in extreme poverty.Thus, organizations such the ELD are put into place not only to manage the environmental protection, but also the economic well being of our people.

Some solutions the ELD offers as a strategy to monitoring land degradation and protection from desertification, or soil depletion to the point of land turning to desert, are proposed in the National Resources Conservation report. The governmental initiative asks for, 

“A network of monitoring sites to detect changes in natural resource conditions.”, which would analyze soil conditions, as it is considered a natural resource. Also, “Working with farmers by understanding and incorporating indigenous knowledge.” 

would make “land degradation aspects in research on cropping and farming systems, and soil and water management.” easier. On top of that the organization attempts to,

“Convince decision-makers that climate change, desertification, quality of life, and sustainability are all interlinked and addressing one helps the other.”

Even though the government tries to balance the nation's economic growth with its environmental health through initiatives like the ELD, many don’t realize that the the two are interconnected. That is when it  becomes difficult to change one system of farming that has worked for near a century because decision makers see environmental damage and a separate from economic stability . Even when soil degradation is causing major problems around the world there is still not enough will power and knowledge for agriculture to change its system of production to a more sustainable model. Hopefully even more initiative will be taken from the government towards similar issues.

FUTURE RESEARCH: In the future I will research how trading policies force the government to find a balance between economic growth and environmental protection.