Luca Montanarella

TL;DR: An unprecedentedly high resolution global potential soil erosion model is presented, using a combination of remote sensing, GIS modelling and census data, that indicates a potential overall increase in global soil erosion driven by cropland expansion.

Abstract: METIS-ID: 167825 The Harmonized World Soil Database is a 30 arc-second raster database with over 15000 different soil mapping units that combines existing regional and national updates of soil information worldwide (SOTER, ESD, Soil Map of China, ISRIC-WISE) with the information contained within the 1:5 000 000 scale FAO-UNESCO Soil Map of the World (FAO, 1971-1981). The resulting raster database consists of ... 21600 rows and 43200 columns, which are linked to harmonized soil property data. The use of a standardized structure allows for the linkage of the attribute data with the raster map to display or query the composition in terms of soil units and the characterization of selected soil parameters (organic Carbon, pH, water storage capacity, soil depth, cation exchange capacity of the soil and the clay fraction, total exchangeable nutrients, lime and gypsum contents, sodium exchange percentage, salinity, textural class and granulometry). Reliability of the information contained in the database is variable: the parts of the database that still make use of the Soil Map of the World such as North America, Australia, West Africa and South Asia are considered less reliable, while most of the areas covered by SOTER databases are considered to have the highest reliability (Southern Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe). Further expansion and update of the HWSD is foreseen for the near future, notably with the excellent databases held in the USA (Natural Resources Conservation Service US General Soil Map, STATSGO), Canada (Agriculture and AgriFood Canada: The National Soil Database NSDB), and Australia (CSIRO, ACLEP, Nnatural Heritage Trust and National Land and Water Resources Audit: ASRIS), and with the recently released SOTER database for Central Africa (FAO/ISRIC/Univ. Gent, 2007)

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore and discuss how soil scientists can help to reach the recently adopted UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the most effective manner and recommend the following steps to be taken by the soil science community as a whole: (i) embrace the UN SDGs, as they provide a platform that allows soil science to demonstrate its relevance for realizing a sustainable society by 2030; (ii) show the specific value of soil science: research should explicitly show how using modern soil information can improve the results of inter-and transdisciplinary studies on SDGs related to food security

TL;DR: It is proposed that in some cases (e.g. Hg and Cd) the high concentrations of soil heavy metal attributed to human activity can be detected at a regional level.

TL;DR: In this article, a modified version of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model was used to estimate soil loss in Europe for the reference year 2010, within which the input factors (Rainfall erosivity, Soil erodibility, Cover-Management, Topography, Support practices) were modelled with the most recently available pan-European datasets.