The climate crisis has drawn the outlines of terrifying futures in our imaginations. Scenarios in which a scorching sun, powerful cyclones or torrential rains – threats of Hollywood proportions, straight from the sky – precipitate the world into chaos. But to the slogan “Look Up” borrowed from fictitious astronomers by activists against climate change, is added a slogan of agronomists, even more ignored: “Look Down”. For calamities also come from under our feet.
Impoverished by decades of intensive agricultural cultivation, weakened by increasingly extensive droughts, abused by artificialization and ravaged by erosion, soils are of growing concern to the international community. While France anticipates a dangerously dry summer that threatens harvests, the conference of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, COP15, ends Friday, May 20, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Land degradation was on the menu of discussions. Are current efforts commensurate with the challenges?
First, the observation: 95% of our food comes directly from the soil. Plants, vegetables, cereals, legumes, fruits… Our food and that of the animals which also end up on the plates, depends on the quality of the soil. “The remaining 5% comes from the sea and rivers; but if there is life in the sea and the rivers, it is also because water from the soil brings nutrients there”explains Marc-André Selosse, biologist and professor at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris and author of The Origin of the World: A Natural History of the Ground for Those Who Tread It (South Acts).
However, the consequences of global warming hinder the functioning of these systems essential to our survival: drought deprives the land of water, while extreme rains accelerate erosion. Worse, soil in poor condition is less able to store carbon and can itself become a contributor to climate change. which affects the quality of the soil. This is called a positive feedback loop, the clever name for the vicious circle. Finally, the soil is home to a quarter of the known species of our planet. Loop enthusiasts will note that soil depletion jeopardizes this precious biodiversity, which is itself essential to soil health.
For all these reasons, land – which includes soil – was the subject of a special IPCC report in 2019. (in English) and, the previous year, a report from IPBES, its equivalent for biodiversity. However, the subject is struggling to break through. “I took my pilgrim staff”, says Marc-André Selosse, who has held a series of conferences on the subject – 90 since the start of the year. He notes, like the other experts interviewed by franceinfo, that interest is growing as the threat knocks on our doors. Spain, Portugal, Italy and already the south of France suffering from a worrying drought.
As early as 1992, land preservation was dealt with in the United Nations Convention on Desertification. This convention, which generated the COP which ends on Friday, is much less publicized than its sisters dealing with climate and biodiversity. Moreover, it has never led to an international treaty specific to soil issues, such as the Paris climate agreement. International law thus protects the quality of water, air and oceans, but not the soil, notes Claire Chenu, agricultural engineer, research director at Inrae and associate professor at AgroParisTech.
“If a natural resource is not even present in regulatory systems and public policies, we cannot protect it.”
Claire Chenu, agricultural engineerat franceinfo
“Why are you interested in this?” asked her, surprised, her friends when she devoted herself to the study of the mysterious world hidden under our soles. Awareness is finally coming, she notes, as 2015, the International Year of Soils, marked an acceleration. The FAO then publishes a comprehensive guide to the state and status of resources on a global scale. (in English) and the United Nations has made soil restoration one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on its “Agenda 2030”. In 2019, the States undertake to achieve by then “the neutrality” in terms of soil degradation and express national ambitions. A promise that only commits those who believe in it, since the initiative does not provide for any constraint, monitoring or deadline.
A “legal indifference”
In a 2018 study, a Hungarian jurist speaks “legal indifference” for floors (in English). For the jurist Maylis Desrousseaux, lecturer at Cnam and specialist in soil protection, “the reason why international soil law is so poor is that it is very difficult to understand the issues”.
“When we degrade a river, we realize that the degradation crosses borders. The same applies when we pollute the air. On the other hand, we always have, concerning the soil, the perception of a very national object.”
Maylis Desrousseaux, lawyer specializing in soil protectionat franceinfo
With all the difficulties that this entails, particularly on land: “What would already constitute great progress would be for international law to make those who own and use the soil resource responsible. For it to convey the idea that one can be the owner or user of land, but also be responsible for its quality and preservation”she continues.
The European Commission got off to a false start in 2006, when five countries opposed a draft framework directive on their protection and restoration. France was one of them, cooled by the cost of cleaning up certain sites. If the project was abandoned in 2013, it has resurfaced in recent months and a new text centered on soil protection must be presented in 2023. The stated ambition: “create a harmonized legal regime that would take into account all soils – agricultural, natural, forest, urbanized… – and would define soil health”explains Maylis Desrousseaux. “Either their good ecological state and their ability to function as an ecosystem, regardless of the use.”
Waiting, “Soil appears in a lot of different regulations and laws. Some countries have soil regulations, but in France, there is no national strategy on this issue”, continues Claire Chenu. Maylis Desrousseaux adds that the application decrees sometimes cancel the relevance of the measures provided for in these laws. She cites as an example the commitment to “zero net artificialisation”, enshrined in the “climate law” adopted in 2021, but undermined by derogations.
Ironically, awareness of the climate threat is about to bring to the fore the issue of soil preservation. Because the need to store more carbon goes through the maintenance of the earth under our feet. A detour that highlights the interdependence and complexity of systems such as climate, biodiversity and land. “As the climate is a deliberately international issue, we could agree at the international level on the question of how soils can help us”notes Maylis Desrousseaux.
“We really have to squirm when we want to protect soils: we must first show their usefulness, their functionality, their fundamentality, to convince them that it is worth protecting them.”
Maylis Desrousseaux, juristat franceinfo
Everything is linked, abounds Claire Chenu. By her own admission, she understood while speaking on the issue of soils in 2015, then ambassador of the FAO, that “talking about soils was like unrolling a ball: we follow a thread that leads us to different subjects, in particular the climate and biodiversity. It’s not easy to make these links appear, but we have to. “ Those who look up or down can no longer “working in watertight silos”. Rather than choosing to focus on plague or cholera, weather disasters or food security, hurricane or hunger… Fighting both, one with the other.