The Soil Ecosystem: Life Below the Surface

The soil ecosystem is a vibrant, interwoven community of bacteria, fungi, insects, roots, and minerals. These underground networks act like nature’s circulatory system—regulating water, storing carbon, and breaking down organic matter. It’s a dynamic system of give and take, where even the tiniest microbes play colossal roles in climate resilience and food security.

Existing Regulations & Policy 

• FAO’s Global Soil Partnership (GSP) promotes sustainable soil management globally.

• European Union’s Soil Strategy for 2030 aims to restore degraded soils and ensure all EU soils are healthy by 2050.

Impacts:

• Raised awareness about soil as a living system.

• Encouraged integration of soil health into climate and biodiversity policies.

Challenges:

• Fragmented legislation across countries.

• Lack of binding international agreements.

Required Policy Actions:

• FAO’s GSP should support ecosystem valuation protocols for soil services.

• Countries must adopt soil ecosystem service accounting in national budgets.

• FAO should push for a UN Soil Convention with legal teeth, similar to the Paris Agreement.

• EU must accelerate the Soil Health Law with enforceable standards and cross-border accountability.

• Develop a UN Soil Convention akin to climate or biodiversity treaties.

• Strengthen regional cooperation through platforms like SoilEX for legal harmonization .

• Harmonize soil governance across sectors (agriculture, urban planning, climate).

• Create national soil registries and integrate soil health into Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs).

Leading Countries & Examples:

• Germany: Integrated soil ecosystem services into its Federal Soil Protection Act.

• Costa Rica: Uses agroforestry and soil ecosystem mapping to support biodiversity corridors.

Example Procedure:

• Germany’s Soil Protection Ordinance mandates ecological assessments before land development.

• Costa Rica’s Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) program rewards farmers for maintaining soil health.

Worst-Case Country:

• Liberia faces extreme soil degradation due to deforestation, mining, and poor land-use practices A.

Most Assistance Needed:

• Sub-Saharan Africa, especially Burundi and Sierra Leone, where soil ecosystems are collapsing under waste mismanagement and erosion A.

Example:

• In Burundi, degraded lands have lost resilience, requiring urgent soil-centric governance and community-led restoration B.

SDG Finance Role:

• Supports ecosystem restoration under SDG 15 (Life on Land) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

• Mobilizes funds for Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) and biodiversity corridors.

Required Finance Framework:

• Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs) to align soil ecosystem services with national budgets .

• Nature-based bonds and green subsidies for soil regeneration.

Technology & Tools:

• Soil ecosystem valuation models, GIS-based mapping, and carbon sequestration calculators.

Leading Countries:

• Costa Rica: PES schemes funded through carbon taxes and biodiversity finance.

• Germany: Soil ecosystem services embedded in federal finance laws.

Required Startup Type:

• Ecosystem Service Startups focused on soil microbiome mapping, carbon sequestration, and ecological modeling.

Service Domain:

• Soil ecosystem valuation, biodiversity monitoring, and restoration analytics.

Examples & Leaders:

• Biome Makers (USA): Uses DNA sequencing to decode soil microbiomes.

• Restor (Global): Offers high-resolution ecosystem restoration mapping.

Required Trade Agreements & Bonds:

• Carbon Sequestration Bonds between Germany and Liberia to fund ecosystem restoration.

• Biodiversity Credit Agreements between Costa Rica and Burundi to incentivize soil ecosystem services.

Indigenous Community Support:

• Bribri (Costa Rica): Guardians of agroforestry corridors and PES schemes.

• Grebo (Liberia): Custodians of forest-soil interfaces, vital for carbon storage.

real-time examples, frameworks, and global actions:

• FAO’s Global Soil Partnership – Soil Governance: Covers international collaboration, technical tools, and policy advocacy.

• Springer – Global Soil Horizons Collection: Regional challenges, climate impacts, and SDG alignment.

• World Bank – Soil Conservation in Developing Countries: Project and policy interventions in vulnerable regions.