Abstract
A lot of scientific knowledge is available on soils in Europe and in the world. Yet, only a fraction of this knowledge reaches policy makers and is actually used in the national and global soil policy development processes. Despite the plethora of soil data and information generated by the soil science community, only a fraction of this information is actually policy relevant. Soil information, in order to be policy relevant, needs to respond to societal needs and address issues of relevance to the general public. Too often soil data and information generated by scientists are only relevant to a very small scientific community and not of relevance to the public policy development process. The establishment of an effective science-policy interface, the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS), and the results of the first comprehensive assessment of global soil resources, the Status of World’s Soil Resources report, provide the first steps toward a more effective global soil policy for protecting this limited, nonrenewable, natural resource.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Hartemink AE, McBratney AB (2008) A soil science renaissance. Geoderma 148(2):123–129, ISSN 0016-7061. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2008.10.006
Montanarella L, Alva IL (2015) Putting soils on the agenda: the three Rio conventions and the post-2015 development agenda. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 15:41–48, http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2015.07.008
Montanarella L, Vargas R (2012) Global governance of soil resources as a necessary condition for sustainable development. Curr Opin Environ Sustain 4(5):559–564, ISSN 1877-3435. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2012.06.007
SERI (2011) EUROPE’S GLOBAL LAND DEMAND: a study on the actual land embodied in European imports and exports of agricultural and forestry products. http://seri.at/
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2014) General assembly adopts resolution on SDGs. http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/sustainable/sdgs-post2015.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Montanarella, L. (2017). Translating Soil Science Knowledge to Public Policy. In: Field, D.J., Morgan, C.L.S., McBratney, A.B. (eds) Global Soil Security. Progress in Soil Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43394-3_42
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43394-3_42
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-43393-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-43394-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)