Session 20: Sustainable Development Goals and Soil policy and practical implementation

Organisers: Margot van Cleen and Co Molenaar, Ministerie van IenM, RWS WVL, The Netherlands, margot.de.cleen@rws.nlco.molenaar@rws.nl

Abstract

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), approved in 2015 by the UN, present an opportunity for soil science research because at least four SDG’s, relating to food security, water quality, climate mitigation and biodiversity preservation, have direct links with the soil. This has been pointed out clearly by now and the next step is to present results of inter- and transdisciplinary research, with a prominent role of soil science, showing specific examples in practice where significant advances have been made towards achieving SDG’s. We invite researcher, policy makers and practitioners to show how the SDGs play a role in their work.

Special attention should be paid to:

  • how inter- and transdisciplinary research was realized;
  • existing soil research ideas for future additional research;
  • how separate SDG’s can be addressed simultaneously using a systems approach
  • relations between existing policies and regulations on land use and environmental quality.

This session will show the significance of soils and soil science in many existing soil based land-use studies to illustrate to non-soil scientists and policy makers and this discipline can help to realize specific SDG’s in a more holistic way.