Consider Soil with a Sense of Sacred

 

World Soil Day 2022 / 05 December / Article

Consider Soil with a Sense of Sacred

Fr Dr M. D. Thomas

Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi

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The 5th day of December is dedicated by the United Nations as ‘World Soil Day’. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization initiated the day, under the leadership of the king of Thailand. Designating a day to celebrate soil was recommended by the International Union of Soil Sciences in 2002, as well.

 

Focusing the attention on the importance of healthy soil, along with advocating for the sustainable management of soil resources, is the objective of the day. It campaigns to raise awareness of the importance of healthy ecosystems and human wellbeing. Addressing the growing challenges in soil management and encouraging societies to improve soil health is the target of the campaign.

 

The theme of World Soil Day 2022 is ‘Soils: Where Food Begins’. At the opening of the Global Symposium on ‘Soils for Nutrition’, in 2022, Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, QU Dongyu, stated, “Soils are vital for feeding the world”. About 95% of the food is produced on our soils. Healthy soils are crucial to our basic survival as well as the sustainable future of the planet.

 

Agricultural soil is provided by about 7.5% of the surface of the Earth and the food supply of the world depends on this portion of the earth. This fragment takes care of other requirements, like housing, cities, schools, hospitals, shopping centres and landfills, too.

 

Soils are categorized into four categories -- solid rock, type A, type B and type C. Solid rock is the most stable and type C is the least stable. Soils are typed not only by how cohesive they are, but also by the conditions in which they are found.

 

Again, based on its texture, soil can be classified into three primary types – sand, silt and clay. The percentage of these can vary, resulting in more compound types of soil, like loamy sand, sandy clay and silty clay.

   

The five components of the soil are minerals, soil organic matter, living organisms, gas and water. They are produced from rocks, the parental material, through the processes of weathering and natural erosion. Water, wind, change of temperature, gravity, chemical interaction, living organisms and pressure differences help break down parent material.

The most fertile soils on earth are the black soils or chernozems. These are found in some areas of North America, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Russia. It took several millennia and a specific climate and steppe vegetation for them to form. 

Soil provides plants with foothold for their roots and holds the necessary nutrients for plants to grow. It filters the rainwater and regulates the discharge of excess rainwater, preventing flooding. It is capable of storing up large amounts of organic carbon. It buffers against pollutants, thus protecting ground water.    

Soil provides a host of crucial services, for both people and the planet. Soil outs food on our plates, purifies our water, protects us against flooding and combats drought. Soil is the key to tackling climate change, as it captures and stores vast amount of carbon. Therefore, there is no food security without healthy soils.

Soil cleans water when water passes through soil, through physical, chemical and biological processes. This is the physical filtration capacity of the soil. Besides, soil contains important biota that helps transform and decompose certain chemicals and other contaminants from soil, thus helping them filter out of water.  

Soil degradation is a serious environmental problem. It is caused by the decline in soil condition. The condition of the soil is worsened by poor agricultural management and industrialization. Soil degradation leads to erosion, loss of organic matter and decline in the fertility of the soil. Quality of the soil is essentially important for life on earth.

Salinization and sodification are two major soil degradation processes. They are a key threat to agricultural production, food security and sustainability. Awareness of the degrading condition of the soil, along with its consequence and prevention, has to be promoted in a major way. 

Besides, salt-affected soils decrease water quality, biodiversity of the soil, et cetera. It has a lower ability to act as a buffer and to filter against pollutants. Therefore, crops become unable to take up water and micronutrients. It is estimated that there are more than 833 hectares of salt-affected soils around the globe, shockingly so. 

What’s more, there is something very sacred about soil. Soil is the gift of nature. Soil is the source of survival for one and all. Therefore, soil is to be handled with respect. The divine and spiritual character of the soil has to be ever honoured. Positive processes of the soil are to be facilitated. Actions that negatively affect the soil are to be refrained from. Agricultural and horticultural engagement has to be sustained, so that the process of human culturing may keep going.

‘World Soil Day 2022’ is a golden occasion for citizens of India and beyond to resolve to renounce all thoughtless actions that meddle with the quality of the soil. Soil has to be considered always with a sense of sacred. Soil has to be always kept engaged with, in favour of a positive and purposeful impact, in terms of agricultural, horticultural and human cultural effects.      

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The author is Director, Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi, and has been committed to education, cross-cultural perspectives, cross-scriptural values, constitutional values, social ethics, interfaith relations, communal harmony, national integration and social wellbeing, for the past over 40 years. He contributes to the above cause through lectures, articles, books, video messages, conferences, social interactions, views at TV channels, social media, and the like.

He could be viewed, listened to and contacted at the following portals – websites ‘www.mdthomas.in’ (p), ‘https://mdthomas.academia.edu’ (p), ‘https://drmdthomas.blogspot.com’(p) and ‘www.ihpsindia.org’ (o); social media ‘https://www.youtube.com/InstituteofHarmonyandPeaceStudies’ (o), ‘https://twitter.com/mdthomas53’ (p), ‘https://www.facebook.com/mdthomas53’ (p); email ‘mdthomas53@gmail.com’ (p) and telephone 9810535378 (p).

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Published in ‘The Secular Citizen’ (Weekly Magazine), Mumbai, Vol.31, Issue No.50, p.10-11 – on 12-18 December 2022

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location: New Delhi, Delhi, India

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