How to Can Soil Science Help to Reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Why are soil scientists important to reach the recently adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals?

In this contribution we want to explain which role soil science and the related soil functions have for the ecosystem services. And how in turn these ecosystem services are linked to the  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this contribution we want to show which role soil scientists can have both within the scientific arena as well as in society. The following recommendation can be given to both soil scientists as well as to the society in general: (i) Take the opportunity to embrace the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as they form a platform that can demonstrate that soil science is highly relevant for realizing a sustainable society by 2030; (ii) Show the value of soil science research such as the use of modern soil information in inter- and trans-disciplinary studies that are related to food security, water scarcity, climate change, biodiversity loss and health threats; (iii) Create awareness among soil scientists that our discipline forms a unique position to take leadership in overarching systems-analyses of ecosystems; (iii) Raise awareness in society of soil organic matter as a key attribute of soils to show its importance for a sustainable world; (iv) Promote the transfer of soil science knowledge through knowledge brokers that have a soil background; (v) Start awareness raising in educational programs at all levels; (vi) Improve communication with policy makers by scaling our research to a comprehensible and usable size; and finally (vii) Promote communication between disciplines, to the world-at-large and to the policy arena.

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 603498 (RECARE project).