Education and awareness raising activities of the British Society of Soil Science

The British Society for Soil Science (BSSS) http://www.soils.org.uk is an international membership organisation and UK based charity committed to promoting the study and profession of soil science in its widest aspects. The Society is committed to reaching out to the public at large to educate and inform on the importance of soils to us all. The Society has adopted a range of approaches to soil education, tailored to the needs and aims of different audience types. We have developed the 'Working with Soil' initiative http://www.soilscientist.org/workingwithsoil which provides practicing soil scientists and potential funders with a set of professional competencies aligned to specific aspects of work. From 2013 The Society has developed a program of courses aligned to these documents aimed at meeting the professional development needs of those undertaking such work. So far these have focused on fundamentals of field characterisation, sampling and mapping which have been very well received, especially by early career practitioners who have had less exposure to field work. We have also produced posters and leaflets that demonstrate a range of soil functions which support human society, for example 'Soils in the City' and 'Soils of Britain'. These were originally developed in a more traditional formal style. The materials have also proved popular with local authorities, regional horticultural clubs and higher education establishments, notably agricultural colleges where they have been used to support student learning in both timetabled and project work. We have subsequently produced a further set of materials aimed at a much younger audience. We deliberately chose slightly quirkier names for these, for example 'Soils and Time Travel' and 'Soils and Spaceship Earth' as a hook to capture the child's imagination. These were designed by a specialist company who used a less formal language, the use of cartoons and alternative images and a wider range of font styles and sizes. This material has been distributed to all the secondary education schools in Great Britain, and receives very positive feedback from educators and pupils alike. The Society has also been highly visible at the BBC Summer of Wildlife roadshows over the summer of 2013. This involved a visual display of soils with two 'hands on' activities "What's in the Soil" and "Build your own Wormery". Each activity was supported with an A4 leaflet that people were able to take home or download from the website (www.soils.org.uk/education). The Society attended all four of the main roadshow events reaching an audience of more than 60,000 members of the public ranging in age from 1 to 100! The Society took to the live stage event during the Leeds show with CBCC "Wild" show presenters to talk about the formation of soils and the role of Earthworms. Some soil scientists who were very reticent about their involvement were actually very good at it and enjoyed it! So lets all get out there and do some more

ECOSSE: Estimating Carbon in Organic Soils - Sequestration and Emissions: Final Report

Background Climate change, caused by greenhouse gas ( GHG) emissions, is one of the most serious threats facing our planet, and is of concern at both UK and devolved administration levels. Accurate predictions for the effects of changes in climate and land use on GHG emissions are vital for informing land use policy. Models which are currently used to predict differences in soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) caused by these changes, have been derived from those based on mineral soils or deep peat. None of these models is entirely satisfactory for describing what happens to organic soils following land-use change. Reports of Scottish GHG emissions have revealed that approximately 15% of Scotland's total emissions come from land use changes on Scotland's high carbon soils; the figure is much lower for Wales. It is therefore important to reduce the major uncertainty in assessing the carbon store and flux from land use change on organic soils, especially those which are too shallow to be deep peats but still contain a large reserve of C. In order to predict the response of organic soils to external change we need to develop a model that reflects more accurately the conditions of these soils. The development of a model for organic soils will help to provide more accurate values of net change to soil C and N in response to changes in land use and climate and may be used to inform reporting to UKGHG inventories. Whilst a few models have been developed to describe deep peat formation and turnover, none have so far been developed suitable for examining the impacts of land-use and climate change on the types of organic soils often subject to land-use change in Scotland and Wales. Organic soils subject to land-use change are often (but not exclusively) characterised by a shallower organic horizon than deep peats (e.g. organo-mineral soils such as peaty podzols and peaty gleys). The main aim of the model developed in this project was to simulate the impacts of land-use and climate change in these types of soils. The model is, a) be driven by commonly available meteorological data and soil descriptions, b) able to simulate and predict C and N turnover in organic soils, c) able to predict the impacts of land-use change and climate change on C and N stores in organic soils in Scotland and Wales. In addition to developing the model, we have undertaken a number of other modelling exercises, literature searches, desk studies, data base exercises, and experimentation to answer a range of other questions associated with the responses of organic soils in Scotland and Wales to climate and land-use change. Aims of the ECOSSE project The aims of the study were: To develop a new model of C and N dynamics that reflects conditions in organic soils in Scotland and Wales and predicts their likely responses to external factors To identify the extent of soils that can be considered organic in Scotland and Wales and provide an estimate of the carbon contained within them To predict the contribution of CO 2, nitrous oxide and methane emissions from organic soils in Scotland and Wales, and provide advice on how changes in land use and climate will affect the C and N balance In order to fulfil these aims, the project was broken down into modules based on these objectives and the report uses that structure. The first aim is covered by module 2, the second aim by module 1, and the third aim by modules 3 to 8. Many of the modules are inter-linked. Objectives of the ECOSSE project The main objectives of the project were to: Describe the distribution of organic soils in Scotland and Wales and provide an estimate of the C contained in them Develop a model to simulate C and N cycling in organic soils and provide predictions as to how they will respond to land-use, management and climate change using elements of existing peat, mineral and forest soil models Provide predictive statements on the effects of land-use and climate change on organic soils and the relationships to GHG emissions, including CO 2, nitrous oxide and methane. Provide predictions on the effects of land use change and climate change on the release of Dissolved Organic Matter from organic soils Provide estimates of C loss from scenarios of accelerated erosion of organic soils Suggest best options for mitigating C and N loss from organic soils Provide guidelines on the likely effects of changing land-use from grazing or semi-natural vegetation to forestry on C and N in organic soils Use the land-use change data derived from the Countryside Surveys of Scotland and Wales to provide predictive estimates for changes to C and N balance in organic soils over time

The 'squeezed middle':Identifying and addressing conflicting demands on intermediate quality farmland in Scotland

The growing demand for a wide range of private and public goods and services from a finite land resource is increasingly challenging for planners at local, regional, national and international scales. The Scottish Government's development of a Land Use Strategy has given salience to resolving conflicts and enhancing synergies in land use. In Scotland, the poorest quality farmland is often designated for nature and landscape conservation and the highest quality farmland often protected for food production. This means that many of the competitive pressures on land are experienced in what we term the 'squeezed middle'. The paper identifies the multiple (and not exclusively economic) drivers of land use choices and, through an ecosystem services lens, explores three particular areas of land use conflict. These are (i) the continued high level of public support for farming, which has done little to address the problem of low farm incomes; (ii) the pressure to increase woodland planting on farm (and other) land; and (iii) conflicts associated with intensive game management, especially on sporting estates. Using the Scottish situation as an example, the heterogeneity of land use pressures means that there is a danger of the principles of the Land Use Strategy becoming lost in translation from national policy to practical land use decision-making. The appropriate scale for delivery of integrated ecosystem services may therefore be more local than current pilot projects, and may require more active participation of land managers. It may also require policy instruments that are more flexible in adapting to the local context, including payments for ecosystem services

Soil Information in Support of Policy Making and Awareness Raising

Soils play an important role in defining sustainable land-use options when facing major global environmental challenges such as food security, climate change, fresh water scarcity and biodiversity loss. Facing these problems, the 2006 EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection (TSSP), provides an important focal point for soil research and awareness raising. Unfortunately, the TSSP has not yet been followed up with a legally binding Framework Directive mainly because of political barriers. Two approaches are discussed to overcome these barriers: First, we explore innovative ways to present soils and raise soil awareness. Soil information in terms of atlases, associated databases and interpretations, focusing on major environmental problems, is presented by the EU Joint Research Center (JRC) for Africa and South America using modern digital techniques and, particularly, a user-oriented approach. This contrasts with the traditional approach which is more soil-centered. Soil science has not yet effectively tapped the genuine and basic affinity of mankind with their soils. Therefore, more attention to local knowledge and management of soils is needed. Creating more awareness, by sharing experiences with various citizen groups, is also an effective mechanism to mobilize the political arena as is demonstrated by some German examples. Second, we show specific real-world examples as to the possible positive and innovative impact of the TSSP. An example is presented of Functional Soil Planning, based on maximizing soil functions at national and international level by customizing soil management at local level, balancing ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ by defining tradeoffs between conflicting functions. Finally, a case study for Scotland is presented dealing with EU policies for so-called: “Less Favoured Areas (LFA)”. The EU Court of Auditors required unified rules for the EU, while Scotland already had defined: “Areas of Natural Handicap”, as a basis for LFAs, emphasizing biophysical criteria. The ensuing discussions with the EU agencies illustrated the significance of the subsidiarity and proportionality principles, demonstrating that EU-wide rules and indicators could be fine-tuned and improved by considering local conditions. In both approaches, soil information is both key to the policies whilst at the same time the policies themselves provide excellent vehicles for awareness raising; a win-win situationJRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

Report to NERC : InformaTec Soils : report for the InformaTec-Soils meeting at Defra, Nobel House, March 14th 2011

InformaTec is a 2-year, NERC-funded project that seeks to identify how to manage the increasing wealth of environmental data and information so that it can be transmitted, distributed, stored, archived, analysed and visualised, and in so doing, aims to recognise and develop opportunities for knowledge and technology transfer, both nationally and internationally. As such, InformaTec addresses a major objective of the NERC science strategy, namely, the “exploitation of technological advances to develop improved methods of monitoring environmental change.” InformaTec-Soils is one component of InformaTec; other aspects of the project focus on environmental monitoring, data standards, interoperability, and distributed computing. The specific aim of InformaTec-Soils is to draw together key players having interest in the collection and synthesis of large-scale soil data sets with a view to identifying what needs to be done to improve understanding of soil and environmental change. As part of the InformaTec-Soils initiative, a meeting of 24 experts from across the UK was convened at Defra, in London, on 14 March 2011. Through presentations, roundtable discussions and breakout groups, the meeting explored, current informatics, methodological and cultural challenges, and constraints, to the synthesis of UK and European soils data for understanding soil and environmental change. This report presents a vision for an ecosystems approach to soils and summarizes the conclusions and recommendations of the meeting held in London. As well as identifying opportunities for the soils community generally, the report will be presented to NERC to inform decisions on future funding. The authors of the report extend their gratitude to all who contributed to the meeting and the production of this report. The report identifies the following important research topics for soils: Key areas for research: 1) Framework development. 2) Quantifying the soil resource, stocks, fluxes, transformations and identifying indicators. 3) Valuing the soil resource for its ecosystem services and natural capital. 4) Developing management strategies and decision support tools. Within these 4 key areas for research we identify the following 5 major challenges that the NERC technologies theme should address: Major research challenges: 1. Ecosystem approach to national soil monitoring; how we measure and model at a range of scales. 2. Exploit new technologies for airborne, ground based sensor networks, and molecular biology techniques to link from structure through to function and on to service. 3. Develop data accessibility (via cloud), and integration by exploiting new data IT tools (eg Open MI) to support projects building exemplar or baseline data/models eg EVOp project (Community). 4. Decision support tools, simple, practical tools for people trying to utilize and visualise data for a range of common purposes (e.g. planning). 5. Pathways to ‘valuation’. How do you link users perceptions of value to the parameters created by the data and models? (e.g developing techniques from social–science research in terms of perceptions and value judgements). Some of the challenges and opportunities to arise from the meeting with regard to ‘Data Handling’ and ‘Measurement Methods and Technologies’ are identified in two appendices to the report