engleski

Soil Functions in the Environment

As conditionally renewable natural resource soil- pedosphere have a decisive influence on sustainable development of global economy, especially sustainable agriculture and environmental protection. Soil is a medium or „sphere of interaction“ of all spheres with numerous functions: productive (primary production of food for the biosphere, source of row materials) and regulatory (climatic regulation- source of greenhouse gases, decomposition of plant and other rests, reactor, receptor, accumulator, and bio-transformator, universal filter for water, powerful puffer system), biological-regulatory system (starting and ending point of numerous bio- cycles, gen-reservoir and base of biodiversity), storing (plant nutrients, water, heat energy - wastes), spatial (natural landscape and anthroscape, spatial conditions for all activities: agriculture, forestry, industry, transport, housing, recreation, waste disposal), a memory for natural - geological, paleontological, pedological and human (archaeological) heritage. Soil is a key media of a harmonious flow of matter and energy and maintenance of harmony and equilibrium in terrestrial and semi terrestrial ecosystems, including agricultural (agro-) as well as forest (silvi-) ecosystems. Agriculture and forestry as renewable resources-based branches of economy and base of promissible sustainable development use more than 90% of Croatia and 90% of area of EU-27. The data are inexorable ; soil can not endure all pressures to which is exposed! By reason of all, there is an urgency to change the way of thinking and to establish a holistic approach taking in account all environmentally- relevant influences in all stages starting with row materials and natural resources needed for production, following production process, transport, consumption and resources necessary for disposal of unusable waste as the last step of cycle. Very promising concept is the Life Cycle Thinking – LCT on the scene in EU, which take into account all the resources consumed and environmental impacts in the cycle ; production- transport-consumption (use, re-use)-recycling and final disposal of unusable waste. A logical consequence of implementation of this concept opens the door of radical changes of soil (land) management towards of restoration of degraded soils and enhancing all soil functions especially the productive and regulatory functions.

Soil functions; agriculture; quantity and quality of food

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