Soils in the Nexus A Crucial Resource for Water, Energy and Food Security

by Weigelt, Jes; Müller, Alexander; Weigelt, Jes

• ISBN13: 9780857843869
• ISBN10: 0857843869
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-10-01
• Publisher: Green Books

Summary

Care of the soil is crucial if we are to ensure water, energy and food security for nine billion people by 2050. The soil sustains biodiversity and can contribute to the mitigation of climate change, but it is a non-renewable resource within human timeframes. We too often treat his resource in unsustainable ways, with the result that approximately 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil is lost each year due to erosion.  Insecurity and the loss of land rights among local populations contribute to the problem.We need, therefore, to consider soils in an integrated and holistic manner: in the nexus. This book presents an interdisciplinary perspective and provides  pathways towards the sustainable governance of soil and land.

Author Biography

Jes Weigelt coordinates the Global Soil Forum at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), focusing on transformations towards the sustainable management of global land and soil resources through multi-stakeholder processes. Alexander Mu¨ller is a Senior Fellow at the IASS. He was Assistant Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and State Secretary in the German Ministry for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture. Charlotte Beckh is a Research Associate at the Global Soil Forum of the IASS and works on responsible land and soil governance and transdisciplinary exchange processes such as the Global Soil Week. Klaus Töpfer is Executive Director of the IASS. He was Federal Minister for the Environment and of Regional Planning and Urban Development. Until 2006 he was Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi.