Editorial

Abstract

Soil degradation is among the most serious environmental threats of our time; indeed it may be the most underestimated environmental and social challenge of the 21st century. Globally, soils and soil quality are eroding - largely unnoticed - from under our feet. There are clear indicators of potential disasters from chronic mismanagement and insufficient conservation. The people involved in soil science and sustainability often bemoan that not enough attention is paid to the sustainability of soil. In reality, there is a great deal of attention to the many complex and intertwined issues that comprise soil governance, but it is fragmented. The biophysical topics associated with soil governance span: protection and restoration of soil, conversion of agricultural and undeveloped lands to urbanisation, natural resources and watershed planning, point and nonpoint pollution, genetic modification, desertification, floodplains, rural development, land degradation, geo-heritage and geo-diversity, sustainable food and fibre production, soil contamination, vegetation, climate change, soil carbon, tillage and land management, traditional agriculture, industrialised agriculture, soil systems, and land development. These topics all involve the dynamic resource termed variously soils, sediment, deserts, farmland, mud, the seabed, mountains etc. that refer to the complex system of minerals and microorganisms that constitute the land.