Webinar on soil governance and launch of SoiLEX 13 January 2021 | 15:00 to 16:30 CET online (Zoom platform). Dr Irene Heuser, Chair, Specialist Group on Soil, Desertification and Sustainable Agriculture, IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law

1. FAO Webinar
Soil Governance
13 January 2021
Dr. Irene L. Heuser
IUCN World Commission
on Environmental Law
Chair, Specialist Group on
Soils, Desertification and
Sustainable Agriculture

2. Dr. Irene L. Heuser2
Soil Threats Identified
• Situation of a global pandemic
• Change of global perspectives?
• Revelation of global interdependance and
vulnerability of our systems?
• Crises as unique opportunity?
Starting point
FAO, 13 January 2021

3. Dr. Irene L. Heuser3
Soil Threats Identified
• Soil = the „living skin of the earth“,
essentially non-renewable resource
• Performance of multitude of soil functions
• High variability
• Natural resource of common
interest/common concern of humanity
• Loss of around 12 million ha of land/year
Importance of soils
FAO, 13 January 2021

4. Dr. Irene L. Heuser4
Soil Threats Identified
• Erosion
• Decline in Organic Matter
• Biodiversity Loss
• Contamination
• Salinisation
• Compaction
• Sealing
• Floods and Landslides
Soil Threats
FAO, 13 January 2021

5.  Principle III. 13: „Good soil governance requires that
actions at all levels (...) be informed by the principles of
sustainable soil management and contribute to the
achievement of a land-degradation neutral world in the
context of sustainable development.“
 Guideline D. III for intern.Org.: „Assist governments, on re-
quest, to establish appropriate legislation, institutions, and
processes to enable them to mount, implement, and moni-
tor appropriate sustainable soil management practices.“
 Governmental Guideline C. V.: „Incorporate the principles
and practices of sustainable soil management into policy
guidance and legislation at all levels of government,
ideally leading to the development of a national soil policy.
Dr. Irene L. Heuser5
2015: Revised World Soil Charter
FAO, 13 January 2021

6. Dr. Irene L. Heuser
Overview:
Legal instruments for the
protection and sustainable use
of soils
I. National Level
II. Regional Level
III. International Level
FAO, 13 January 20216

7. Dr. Irene L. Heuser7 FAO, 13 January 2021
I. National Instruments for
Soil Protection
• Specific soil legislation
• Inclusion of soil protection provisions into
a general environmental protection act
• Consideration of soil protection issues in
other contexts

8. (Examples):
• 1972: African Convention for the Conservation of
Nature and Natural Resources
• 1985: ASEAN Agreement on the Protection of Nature
and Natural Resources of the South Pacific
Region
• 1998: Alpine Convention (1991) & its Soil Protection
Protocol
• 2003: Revised African Convention for the Conservat.
of Nature and Natural Resources
Dr. Irene L. Heuser8 FAO, 13 January 2021
II. Regional Instruments for
Soil Protection

9. Dr. Irene L. Heuser9 FAO, 13 January 2021
III. International instruments for
soil protection
non-binding binding

10.  1972: (European Soil Charter) Stockholm Declarat.
 1980: World Conservation Strategy
 1982: FAO World Soil Charter, UNEP World Soils
Policy, World Charter for Nature
 1983: UNEP Guidelines (for national soil policies)
 1992: Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 (+ 3 conv.)
 1996: Nairobi Declaration
 2000 ff: UN Millennium Dev. Goals, IUCN Resolutions
 2001: UNEP Montevideo Program III (Obj. 12 “Soils”)
 2002: WSSD Plan of Implementation & Johannes-
burg Declaration
Dr. Irene L. Heuser10
Non-Binding Instruments
FAO, 13 January 2021

11.  2002: World Soils Agenda of IUSS
 2004: UNEP Strategy on Land Management and
Soil Conservation
 2007: UNCCD 10 Year Strategy 2008-2018
 2011: UN FAO Global Soil Partnership, Global Soil
Biodiversity Initiative
 2011: Berlin Call for Action
 2011: Africa Consensus Statement to Rio+20
 2012: UNCSD: Rio+20 Outcome document
 2015: UN General Assembly: 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development with its SGDs
 2015: Paris Agreement
FAO, 13 January 2021Dr. Irene L. Heuser11
Non-Binding Instruments/2

12. Agenda 2030 / SDG Target 15.3
“By 2030, combat desertification, and
restore degraded land and soil including
land affected by desertification, drought
and floods, and strive to achieve a land-
degradation neutral world.”
Dr. Irene L. Heuser12 FAO, 13 January 2021

13. • 1992: Convention on Biological Diversity
(CBD)
• 1992: UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• 1994: UN Convention to Combat
Desertification (UNCCD)
Dr. Irene L. Heuser13
Binding Legal Instruments on
International Level
FAO, 13 January 2021

14. • Countries experiencing
serious drought/desertifi-
cation, particularly in Africa
• Limited geografic focus -
Annex: Central & Eastern
European countries
• Fight against soil erosion,
salinisation and desertifi-
cation
• Capacity-building, Coordi-
nation CBD/UNFCCC
• Need for a Soil Protection
Protocol (& LDN)
FAO, 13 January 2021Dr. Irene L. Heuser14
UNCCD

15. FAO, 13 January 2021Dr. Irene L. Heuser15
Conclusion de lege lata
• No comprehensive legal instrument
• Contribution of several international
legal instruments, e.g. Rio conventions
• Mosaic: Biodiversity, desertification,
climate change, nature protection etc.
• No adequate level of soil protection on
international level
• Need for a single convention(„Paris-
syle“) or a protocol to UNCCD or CBD

16. Dr. Irene L. Heuser16 FAO, 13 January 2021
IV. Future Approaches

17. Which level? International or national?
• Global mechanisms (e.g. a protocol to the UNCCD)
needed?
• Better targets at national or regional level?
• Effectiveness of target setting?
• Obligatory or voluntary national targets?
• Development of guidelines for national target setting
• How can we ask for even less?
• The necessity of soil protection is not for bargaining…
Dr. Irene L. Heuser17 FAO, 13 January 2021

18. FAO, 13 January 2021Dr. Irene L. Heuser
Arguments used against
Specific Soil Legislation
• No progress for soil protection
• Hindering agriculture
• Endangering economic development
• Leading to buerocratic centralisation
• Lack of competence and violation of
principle of subsidiarity
18

19. FAO, 13 January 2021Dr. Irene L. Heuser
Reasons for (Legal) Neglect of Soil
• Special property rights / tenure
• “Tragedy of the Commons” - soils not
regarded as common heritage
• No relation to soil any more ↔ soil in
symbolism of culture and religion
• “Soil is dirty”
• Lack of information
• Soil damage not always clearly and
immediately perceptible
19

20. FAO, 13 January 2021Dr. Irene L. Heuser
Linking soil issues to climate change
• Role of organic matter:
– Supporting soil fertility
– Retaining water
– Sustaining biodiversity and
– Regulating the global carbon cycle
• Example: Soils in EU contain more than
70 billion tonnes of organic carbon
• Organic matter decline quite high
• Role of Peatlands as repositories of
carbon
20

21. Dr. Irene L. Heuser21
Soil Threats Identified
• Development of global food production
• Rising food prices
• Trigger for conflicts and migration
• Land scarcity – land acquisitions/„land grabbing“
• World‘s population growth
• Increasing soil degradation

How do we sustainably intensify the production of
food, fuel and fiber to meet the demands of future
generations?
Food Security
FAO, 13 January 2021

22. FAO 13 January 2021Dr. Irene L. Heuser
Towards a new soil ethics
• Preserving ecologically stable & healthy soils
• Ensuring that future generations will have at
least the same quality of soil
• Equal access to soil resources for all people
• Protecting the ecological functions of the soil
for their own inherent value
• Utilizing appropriate ecological soil standards
• Establishing new legal Instruments of soil
protection
22

23. Aldo Leopold in
“Sand County Almanac”:
“That land is a community is the
basic concept of ecology, but that
land is to be loved and respected is
an extension of ethics.”
FAO 13 January 2021Dr. Irene L. Heuser23

24. Thank you very much for your attention!
Dr. Irene L. Heuser
IUCN WCEL, Chair of
Specialist Group on Soil, Desertification and Sustainable Agriculture
Irene.Heuser@googlemail.com