7. Can Soils Die‪?‬ Healthy Planet Healthy You

Healthy living soils are one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. Just a gram of healthy soil contains more microorganisms than there are people on Earth. Healthy soils have a huge effect on the human body and entire ecosystems: they are the foundation of human health and well-being, are great carbon sinks, and regulate hydrological processes.



However, as the soil is a living organism, it can also die… every minute we lose the equivalent of 30 football fields of fertile soil. On the scale of a human lifetime, soils are a non-renewable resource because soil formation is such a slow process: it takes hundreds of years to create an inch of soil whereas to lose one inch of soil, it won’t take a minute. Soil degradation is causing significant losses in biodiversity and ecosystem services and compromising the well-being of at least 3.2 billion people around the world.



Healthy soils are part of the solution to some of our social, health and wellness, and environmental problems, and you have the power to protect them. There are things you can do as an individual that will give soils (and us) the chance to keep thriving.