“Climate change, mismanagement is not an alibi”, the conclusions of the IUSS Centenary Congress
The soil can be degraded more by human mismanagement than climate change can. This is what emerges from the three days with the contribution of CREA
ROME – The soil can be degraded more by human mismanagement than climate change. This is what emerges from the intense three days celebrating the Centenary of the IUSS (the International Union of Soil Sciences), which brings together the national soil scientific societies of around 80 countries around the world, from a large part of the planet.
The international event, organized by the IUSS and the SISS (Italian Society of Soil Sciences) and sponsored by Masaf, to which Italy contributed significantly (the IUSS president Edoardo Costantini, formerly CREA, is Italian and, again Italian and branded CREA is the Secretariat, entrusted to Giuseppe Corti, director of CREA Agriculture and Environment and president of SISS and to Filiberto Altobelli, CREA Policies and Bioeconomics), saw the participation of over 1500 scientists.
In addition to celebrating the birth of the IUSS, they took stock of hot topics relating to soil health and management, such as salinisation, gender equality, global policies, risk management, regeneration, degradation, increase in organic substance. Around 100 scientific sessions for a 360° look at the soil, for an important moment of discussion and updating which also touched on more general topics such as sustainable development, circular economy, food and water security, sustainable and livable cities, technology, and digitalization of information, but also more specific on the soil such as consumption, erosion, pollution, depletion of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), fertilizers, biodiversity conservation.
The congress, a moment of reflection that puts knowledge at the center because only through this can we produce more while safeguarding the quality of the soil, was celebrated in Italy, since it was in Italy that the IUSS was established, exactly 100 years ago, on 19 May 1924 in Rome, at Villa Lubin, the current headquarters of the CNEL, National Council of Economy and Labour.