CBCGDF’ Proposal: "Soil Biodiversity" Should Be Included in the First-level Census Indicator

News

2022/5/13 18:40:00 本站

On February 25, 2022, the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) Biodiversity Conservation In Our Neighborhood(BCON) Working Group suggested that in the third national soil census, "soil biodiversity" should be included in the first-level census indicators.

According to the "Notice on Carrying out the Third National Soil Census" issued by the Government of China in mid-February 2022, it is decided to carry out the third national soil census from 2022, and to use four years to comprehensively check the soil quality of agricultural land. The "Notice" clarifies the general requirements, objects and contents, time arrangement, organization and implementation, funding guarantee and work requirements of the census.

The "Notice" shows that the census mainly includes four aspects: census of site conditions, including topography, hydrogeology, etc.; census of characters, including organic matter, pH, nutrients, and physical and chemical properties such as color and texture; census of types, including different verification and supplementation of soil parent materials, different climatic conditions, different topography and landforms, and different utilization conditions, etc.; utilization status census, including basic information such as irrigation and drainage facilities, plant growth, planting system, use of inputs such as agricultural film.

However, the BCON working group found that "soil biodiversity" was not included as an important content in the first-level indicator of soil census content.

Because soil is a living ecosystem, if it is not included in the first-level standard, it means that soil is still regarded as a chemical composition, rather than a "living life community". It also means that the future will still take the road of industrialization and chemical agriculture.

The third national soil census will start in 2022 and will comprehensively investigate the situation of soil resources in China. The census work is planned to be completed by 2025. The BCON working group of CBCGDF believes that it would be a pity if soil biodiversity was not included in the first-level indicators of the survey in this four-year basic census!

To this end, the BCON working group called for: In the upcoming third national soil census, "soil biodiversity" should be included in the first-level census content, and listed as the fifth aspect.