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Introduction
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Publications
Publications (535)
The recent strategic policy dialogue on the future of agriculture in the European Union focuses on sustainable development and presents a clear challenge to the research community, including soil science. Framing sustainability in the context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a recent case study is reviewed in this Opinion paper showi...
Soil underpins the functioning of all terrestrial ecosystems. Sustainable soil management is crucial to preventing further degradation of the non-renewable soil resources and achieving sustainability. The soil health concept has gained popularity as a means to this end and has been integrated into the policies of many countries and supranational or...
Current environmental regulations for agriculture in the Netherlands and England focus on the application of certain selected management measures as an empirical basis for providing subsidies. Farmers like this simple, straightforward approach. The link with sustainable development is, however, not defined and this can become problematic when proce...
When considering ecosystem services in line with relevant Sustainable Development Goals, the proposed logical sequence of the ten pedometric challenges can form a framework defining effective contributions by the soil science discipline to the sustainability challenge facing society. Defining relatively simple, but scientifically sound, indicators...
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were intended to be met by 2030, but recent reviews show that this will not be achieved, and recommendations have been made to heads of state, governments, the international community, and member states to strengthen their efforts. Focusing on agriculture, we argue that a bottom-up effort is also needed i...
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were intended to be met by 2030 but recent reviews show that this will not be achieved and recommendations are made to Heads of State, Governments, the International Community and Member States to strengthen their efforts. Focusing on agriculture, we argue that a bottom-up effort is also needed in Living...
Soil physics defines soil water, air, and temperature regimes that are crucial for agricultural production, the quality of water resources, and waste management. Positioning such activities in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will provide a valuable link to the international policy arena and should also include...
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have a deadline of 2030 so, restricting attention to agriculture, development and implementation of management measures, aimed at reaching the goals, is urgent. Even though the current 159 very broad targets and 234 indicators for the SDGs don't mention soils, soils play a key role when addressing indicat...
The previous rather abstract debate about sustainable development has been focused by the introduction of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 and the related European Union (EU) Green Deal (GD) in 2019. Restricting attention to agriculture, proposed targets and indicators are, however, not specific enough to allow a...
There is general agreement on the need for sustainable development, but the concept has remained rather vague until seventeen specific goals (SDGs) were approved by the UN Assembly in 2015, including targets and indicators. The EU followed this example by introducing their Green Deal in 2019. Soils play a very important role in realizing these goal...
Soil classification is based on both the properties of the soil material and the pedogenetic pathways responsible for those properties. Because soil properties are linked to soil function and potential, information on soil classification has formed the basis for empirical interpretations of mapping units in terms of limitations or suitabilities for...
The until that time rather abstract debate about sustainable development has been focused by introducing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 and the related European Green Deal in 2019. Restricting attention to agriculture, proposed targets and indicators are, however, not specific enough to allow a focus for developing...
Reaching the land-related UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and similar goals articulated by the EU Green Deal (GD) by 2030 presents a major challenge and requires a pragmatic approach focused on joint learning by land users (mostly farmers), researchers and other stakeholders in “Living Labs” and system experiments at experimental farms of r...
Reaching the land-related UN-Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and similar goals articulated by the EU-Green Deal (GD) by 2030 presents a major challenge and requires a pragmatic approach to be focused on joint learning by land users (mostly farmers), researchers and other stakeholders in “Living Labs” and system experiments at experimental farm...
Pedometrics, the application of mathematical and statistical methods to the study of the distribution and genesis of soils, has broadened its scope over the past two decades. The primary focus of pedometricians has traditionally been on spatial and spatio-temporal soil inventories with numerical soil classification, geostatistical modelling of spat...
The general concept of sustainable development has been specified in terms of goals, targets, and indicators by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in 2015, followed by the Green Deal of the European Union in 2019. The focus on targets and indicators does, however, not address the issue as to how these goals can be achieved for land-relat...
Being critical to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, strengthening understanding of the properties and processes of soil at national and regional scales is imperative. The necessity to realize SDGs by 2030 also inspires a greater sense of responsibility and care for soils. Sustainable management of soil health is...
The water-soil-waste nexus is more relevant than ever. UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) covering food, water, climate and biodiversity can all significantly be served by applying wastewater and compost to soils, thereby potentially increasing food production, combating water scarcity while higher contents of soil organic matter are effective...
Long a rather abstract concept, sustainable development has since 2015 been defined by the United Nations in terms of goals (SDGs), specified by targets and indicators.Soils play an important role in several land-related SDGs by their contribution to ecosystem services that, in turn, contribute to biomass production (SDG2), water quality (SDG6), cl...
This introductory chapter explains why organic waste composting is considered as one of the best examples to demonstrate the benefits of nexus thinking. Current literature is rich with information covering various aspects of composting process. However, it mainly represents two distinct fields: waste from the management point of view and soil/agric...
The concepts of soil quality and soil health are widely used as soils receive more attention in the worldwide policy arena. So far, however, the distinction between the two concepts is unclear, and operational procedures for measurement are still being developed. A proposal is made to focus soil health on actual soil conditions, as determined by a...
The seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) present a major challenge to soil scientists that have, so far, not been involved with defining SDG targets and indicators. Soil functioning contributes to ecosystem services (ES) that, in turn, are important to achieve land-related SDGs, including: (1) biomass production (SDG2); (2)...
“Caring for Soil is Caring for Life” is the title of the mission proposed by the Soil Health and Food Mission Board. The mission’s goal is to “ensure that 75% of soils are healthy by 2030 and are able to provide essential ecosystem services”, such as the provision of food and other biomass, supporting biodiversity, storing and regulating the flow o...
The new mission-oriented “Horizon Europe” research and innovation program of the EU for the period 2021-2027 is characterized by the introduction of five Missions, among them: “Soil Health and Food”. Soils play an important role contributing to ecosystem services that, in turn, contribute to SDGs. Important ecosystem services are producing healthy...
Abstract. The soil quality and soil health concepts are widely used as soils receive more attention in the worldwide policy arena. So far, however, the distinction between the two concepts is unclear and operational procedures for measurement are still being developed. A proposal is made to focus soil health on actual soil conditions, as determined...
New water-conserving irrigation technologies are vital in arid countries. We investigated the effects of (i) soil substrates made of Smart Capillary Barrier Wick (SCB-W), consisting of silt loam blocks surrounded by sand-sheathes and irrigated with a sand wick cylinder (WC) as compared to a control (homogenous soil irrigated by the same wick system...
Since the turn of the millennium, digital soil mapping (DSM) has revolutionized the production of fine resolution gridded soil data with associated uncertainty. However, the link to conventional soil maps has not been sufficiently explained nor are the approaches complementary and synergistic. Further training on the digital soil mapping approaches...
The Available Soil Water Capacity (AWC) is standard data in most soil databases and expresses soil water contents in the rootzone between field capacity (FC; –33 kPa) and permanent wilting point (WP; −1500 kPa). Literature suggests that increasing the content of soil organic matter (SOM) of a given soil does not significantly increase AWC and this...
Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by 193 Governments at the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2015 for achievement by 2030. These SDGs present a roadmap to a sustainable future and a challenge to the science community. To guide activities and check progress, targets and indicators have been and are still being defi...
Soil use and management play a key role, when maintaining or restoring soil quality, as an estimated 30% of soils in the world suffer from various forms of degradation. Several of the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), approved in 2015 by 195 governments, are land‐related, providing a stimulating challenge for soil research. Unfortu...
This study focuses on soil physical aspects of soil quality and health with the objective to define procedures with worldwide rather than only regional applicability, reflecting modern developments in soil physical and agronomic research and addressing important questions regarding possible effects of soil degradation and climate change. In contras...
The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide an excellent channel to demonstrate the significance of soils when considering e.g., food production, water availability, climate mitigation and biodiversity preservation. For environmental sciences, including soil science, the SDGs provide “a point at the horizon” for future rese...
The soil genoform vs. soil phenoform distinction was suggested twenty years ago by Droogers and Bouma to recognize management-induced differences among pedons with the same long-term pedogenesis and included in the same soil map unit, these changes being sufficient to cause important and persistent differences in soil functions. To support the rece...
Assuming that “post-truth” and “fact-free” attitudes are only symptoms of deeper misgivings about “elite” behavior of scientists and lack of understanding of the scientific method, approaches to overcome problems should focus on improved interaction processes and on ways to better illustrate the goals of science. Regarding interaction processes, so...
Soil, through its various functions, plays a vital role in the Earth’s ecosystems and provides multiple ecosystem services to humanity. Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) are simple to complex knowledge rules that relate available soil information to soil properties and variables that are needed to parameterize soil processes. In this paper, we review t...
To work towards achieving soil security in the next two decades, participants identified goals to secure soil so that it can contribute to solving other global issues. Specific goals for each dimension were designed to achieve the overall objective of soil security, catalyse research and practice and contribute to soil policy.
Agreed goals included...
The pioneering vision of Alexander von Humboldt of science and society of the early 1800s is still highly relevant today. His open mind and urge to make many measurements characterizing the “interconnected web of life” are crucial ingredients as we now face the worldwide challenge of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Case studies in the Philipp...
The pioneering vision of Alexander von Humboldt on science and society of the early 1800's is still highly relevant today. His open mind and urge to make many measurements characterizing the: interconnected web of life are crucial ingredients as we now face the worldwide challenge of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Case studies in the Phillip...
Maintaining cereal production in the Bekaa valley in Lebanon presents a serious challenge. Lack of water is the driving force of agricultural research which is mainly focused on introduction of drought resistant cultivars, application of conservation tillage and supplemental irrigation. In this context forty-eight experimental plots were laid out f...
Core Ideas
The UN Sustainable Development Goals present a guiding principle for hydropedology.
Hydropedology is potentially more effective than the separate disciplines.
Pedologists should better support their observations with physical measurements.
Measuring and interpreting bypass flow may be more effective than developing new theory.
Existing s...
Capability, a term that has been well defined in welfare economics, can be applied to soil by defining the intrinsic capacity of a soil to contribute to ecosystem services, including biomass production. Seven soil functions are used to define capabilities, and combining different functions in storylines provides integrated expressions for capabilit...
The change in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union from product to producer support, including requirements for ‘good agricultural and environmental conditions’ and ‘greening’, is excellent. However, these requirements are now defined in rather general terms. Questions can be raised about suitable indicators, and there is a re...
Our current information society, populated by increasingly well-informed and
critical stakeholders, presents a challenge to both the policy and science
arenas. The introduction of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offers a
unique and welcome opportunity to direct joint activities towards these
goals. Soil science, even though it is not me...
The Nexus approach is valuable when screening the overwhelming number of publications on water, waste, and soils by: (1) focusing on linkages and trade-offs between the three constituting elements, (2) being a source for inter- and transdisciplinary research, and (3) facilitating communication. To be most effective, the elements should have a compa...
This book elaborates how water, soil, and waste may be managed in a nexus and how this approach may help combat global change. In addition to providing a brief account on nexus thinking and how it may help us tackle issues important to the world community such as food security, the book presents the environmental resource perspective of three main...
Among natural resources, soils are often forgotten and poorly represented in ecosystem service frameworks and decision making processes, even though they are a non-renewable resource and the foundation of terrestrial ecosystems’ function and health. This study used a novel methodology to (i) quantify the ecosystem services provided by dairy-based a...
Our current information society, populated by increasingly well informed and critical stakeholders, presents a challenge to both the policy and science arena's. The introduction of the UN Sustainable Development Goals offers a unique and welcome opportunity to direct joint activities towards these goals. Soil science, even though it is not mentione...
In this FORUM paper we discuss how soil scientists can help to reach the recently adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals in the most effective manner. Soil science, as a land-related discipline has important links to several of the SDGs which are demonstrated through the functions of soils and the ecosystem services that are linked to those funct...
Climate change is likely to have a major impact on agricultural production in Mediterranean regions, due to higher temperatures and lower water availability for irrigation. A Hybrid Land Evaluation System (HLES) is proposed allowing a comparison between plant demands on the one hand and estimated future temperatures and soil water regimes on the ot...
This chapter begins with an overview of different soil- and crop-oriented methods to describe the spatial variability within fields. Then, the main question that remains is how to translate this information into practical management. Management decisions will be discussed on the basis of four operational low- and high-tech PA systems. General concl...
Soil science is a vital scientific discipline producing cutting-edge research in its various sub-disciplines. Its role in studying major environmental issues, often defined as food security, water and energy availability, climate change and biodiversity loss, is, however, less obvious to stakeholders, policy makers and the public at large. It deser...
Soil security can only be achieved when the global soil resource is maintained and improved, requiring a reversal of current degradation processes. This demands a major effort by soil scientists in at least four directions by: (i) demonstrating the importance of soils in inter- and transdisciplinary programs focusing on food, water, climate, biodiv...
The UN-Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide an attractive framework to demonstrate the essential contributions that soil science can make to transdisciplinary research. Contributions of soil sience were systematically defined by considering relevant SDGs and the associated ecosystem services (ES) for six transdisciplinary case studies in th...
The introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) has fundamentally changed the flow and role of data and information in our increasingly digital society and this also strongly affects soil science. Stakeholders become more knowledgeable and critical. This issue paper raises the question as to how the scientific community, and part...
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See: http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/books/details/9781466598584/
On-line e at: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?oi=bibs&hl=en&cluster=5810518903923624156&btnI=1
The United Nations effort to define Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's), emphasizing local goals and capacity building, offers a unique opportunity for soil science to demonstrate the role it can play when focusing on these goals. Several strategic reports have presented key issues for sustainable development: food security, freshwater and energy...
Accelerating future water shortages require development of operational water governance models, as illustrated by three case studies: (1) upstream – downstream interactions in the Aral Sea basin, where science acts as problem recognizer, emphasizing scoping policies; (2) impact and adaptation of climate change on water and food supply in the Middle...
Food production, water availability and energy production are important ecosystem services of the Upper Tana basin (Kenya) and they decline due to upstream erosion affecting downstream water users. The effect of 11 soil conservation measures on soil erosion and the three ecosystem services was estimated by a modelling approach to assess agro-ecolog...
The impressive set of measuring, monitoring and modeling methodologies of soil physics is currently not being used to its full potential in inter-and transdisciplinary studies on major environmental problems. Suggestions are made to: (i) re-establish the knowledge chain, linking tacit knowledge to cutting edge science in both directions; (ii) make...
Diverse kennisinstellingen in Nederland doen onderzoek naar de groenblauwe ruimte. De trend van de afgelopen decennia was dat onderzoeksvragen steeds meer extern bepaald werden, door financiers en beleid, en dat de onderzoeker vooral de rol van uitvoerder kreeg. Binnen het DLO-onderzoeksprogramma 'Duurzame ontwikkeling van de groenblauwe ruimte' is...
Soil degradation is a critical and growing global problem. As the world population increases, pressure on soil also increases and the natural and the natural capital of soil faces continuing decline, international policy makers have recognized this and a range of initiatives to address it have emerged over recent years. However, a gap remains betwe...
6.1 Inleiding De vorige minister van Economische Zaken, Maxime Verhagen, noemde Wageningen Universiteit en Researchcentrum (WUR) het 'Harvard' op landbouw-gebied, beroemd om zijn excellente toepassingsgerichte landbouwkundig onderzoek dat is gebaseerd op samenwerking binnen de 'Gouden Driehoek' van Overheid, Onderzoek en Bedrijfsleven (Van Vliet &...
Many studies convincingly document the importance of soils when dealing with the global environmental sustainability issues of today, such as food, water and energy security, climate change, ecosystem service delivery and biodiversity protection. Even though international agencies have supported the claims by the soil science community, recent stra...
Soils play an important role in defining sustainable land-use options when facing major global environmental challenges such as food security, climate change, fresh water scarcity and biodiversity loss. Facing these problems, the 2006 EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection (TSSP), provides an important focal point for soil research and awareness...
Upstream soil and water conservation measures in catchments can have positive impact both upstream in terms of less erosion and higher crop yields, but also downstream by less sediment flow into reservoirs and increased groundwater recharge. Green Water Credits (GWC) schemes are being developed to encourage upstream farmers to invest in soil and wa...
Land units, land utilization types and land use systems need to be defined differently for different scale levels, eg, for farm, regional and world levels, as illustrated in this paper. The Hoosbeek and Bryant diagram, showing methodology as a funciton of spatial scales, is used to illustrate research procedures based on user demands. Land use deci...
Kringlooplandbouw is een vorm van landbouw waarbij de nadruk ligt op het gebruik van op het bedrijf aanwezige hulpbronnen en voorraden, en het behalen van voldoende inkomen over langere termijn met het behoud van de kwaliteit van natuurlijke ecosystemen. In Nationaal Landschap ‘Noardlike Fryske Wâlden’ (NFW) wordt in de melkveehouderij een vorm van...
Soil classification systems are analysed in relation to the functioning and characterisation of catchments. Soil classifications are useful to create systematic order in the overwhelming quantity of different soils in the world and to extrapolate data available for a given soil type to soils elsewhere with identical classifications. However, such c...
Soil classification systems are analysed to explore the potential of developing classification systems for catchments. Soil classifications are useful to create systematic order in the overwhelming quantity of different soils in the world and to extrapolate data available for a given soil type to soils elsewhere with identical classifications. This...
Environmental research has contributed significantly since 1990 to a strong reduction of environmental pollution associated with dairy farming in the Netherlands. To judge possible pollution, state indicators and threshold values are distinguished. Threshold values for: (i) N and P in ground- and surface-water, (ii) air quality in terms of ammonia...
Scientific institutions all over the world emphasize the importance of effective links between science and society when pursuing sustainable development thereby linking science and development. Unfortunately, the knowledge paradox implies that too much research is not applied, partly because the research community is still rather inward looking, cr...
Questions
Questions (2)
Dear Wenceslau. Very interesting that approach to follow the movement of nitrate and ammonia in different cropping systems. I would expect that soil drainage, with the associated nitrification and denitrification processes, will also have significant effects. But perhaps certain crops are only grown at certain soils? I will follow the project as it unfolds. Best wishes, also for the holiday season. Johan Bouma.
I need no further explanation (??)
Conference Paper Digital soil mapping of soil attributes driving microbial habitats
