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Academic Papers

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A new book Epistemologies of Land discusses how land has come to be reduced to a commodity historically, what the consequences of this have been, and what alternative ways of understanding land could help us today

 

Is any form of soil tillage sustainable? No, claims this recent paper which advocates for conservation tillage as the basis of sustainable farming

 

Dancing with soil? The book Choreographing Dirt explores how incorporating soil into modern dance performance enables artists to express humanity’s inter-dependence on other living and non-living entities

 

In soil governance, institutions which bridge science and policy are crucial actors. This study examines the behaviour of the UN Commision to Combat Desertification and the Global Soil Partnership, and argues that ‘there is evidence that (such) international bureaucracies and secretariats are likely to put their own strategic priorities ahead of the goals of sustainable development and environmental protection’

 

There are plenty of soil publics out there already. Their work can be strengthened with citizen science: more than a means of collecting data about soil, but part of the process of recognising past harms and transforming human-soil relations

 

A new study conducted across 24 european countries revealed that soil pH is the key driver of bacterial and fungal richness in most climatic region. 

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Filming a hidden resource: The soil in the seventh art narrative explores in a systematic review a thousand “soil movies” to understand the role of soil environments in movies, how soil is approached by filmmakers, how it evolved from 1902 to 2022, and how soil movies should be used as an innovative educative tool

 

US researchers developed a new framework for soil health assessment : SEMWISE (Structural Equation Model for Well-Informed Soil Evaluation) as well as a soil health management index

 

This paper reviews existing citizen science approaches involving biodiversity monitoring on farmland. They proposed a typology of 8 programmes types ( and discuss their further developments

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Soil and Policy

 

Science Based Target initiative released its FLAG guidance, for setting science based targets for the Forest Land and Agriculture sector aligned with the 1,5°C target. According to the guidance, the land sector could contribute up to 37% of the emission reductions and removals needed through 2030 and 20% to 2050

HuMus project Open Call. application untill 29 february 2024. The Healthy Municipal Soils (HuMUS) project is supporting collective spaces of constructive dialogue on soil health with participatory governance methods and tools. 600,000€ are to be shared between 20 Pilot Groups

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Soil Art, Entertainment, and Outreach

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A new film Six Inches of Soil has launched. During 2024, the film is available for public screenings; if you would like to screen the film get in touch for the screening pack  

Spanish Society of Soil Science (SECS) is offering a great 2024 calendar illustrating movies addressing the soil topic

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Soil Events

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Free webinar. GSBI Speaks - Threats to Mycorrhizae. 07 February 2024 14:00 - 15:00 GMT. Online. Hosted by BSSS.

Free webinar. Thematic Event on soil decontamination. 15 February 2024 10:00 - 12:00 CET. Online. Organised by Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation (IUNG).

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