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Soil organisms play a crucial role in boosting food production, enhancing nutritious diets, preserving human health, remediating pollution and combating climate change.

The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) said in its report on "The State of Knowledge of Soil Biodiversity" that their contribution remains largely underestimated

The report was launched on the occasion of World Soil Day, marked on 5 December.

More information

Read the FAO report

For its part, The European Commission launched the EU Soil Observatory to monitor trends of soil health in Europe, on December 4th.

The proposed EU mission in the area of Soil health and food - entitled 'Caring for soil is caring for life' - contains the ambitious goal of ensuring that 75% of soils are healthy by 2030 and are able to provide essential ecosystem services.

the new EU Soil Observatory will provide the necessary data to monitor progress towards the European soil health objectives and targets, with the ultimate goal to improve soil management and halt soil degradation.

More information on the EU Soil Observatory

Sources : FAO, European Commission

Photo credit : Hugo François