Italy is certainly not among the world leaders in attention to soil. The figure for soil consumption alone is striking: the latest data show a loss of about 14 hectares a day (equal to 20 football pitches). It is therefore urgent to start thinking about, and putting into practice, alternative solutions for using land in a conscious way.
See the data on soil consumption in Italy:
https://webgis.arpa.piemonte.it/secure_apps/consumo_suolo_agportal/?entry=5
World Soil Day 2023
World Soil Day 2023 had the title: ‘Soils, where food begins’.
The choice to focus this edition on the value of soil in food production, for better and more sustainable nutrition, is clear.
The loss of fertility of the soil is the first degradation process that threatens nutrition, putting food security and sustainability at serious risk all over the world.
If the soil is healthy and rich in nutrients, food production will be healthy. Conversely, the progressive sickening of the soil can lead to the most serious consequences, first of all an increase in world hunger.
In Italy, the CIC – Italian Composting Association (Consorzio Italiano Compostatori), in collaboration with the Re Soil Foundation, promoted a conference in Rome on the occasion of World Soil Day 2022, entitled FROM EARTH TO EARTH: soil between climate change and new lifestyles.
From this important gathering came a strong request that the National Strategic Plan of the new CAP (the Common Agricultural Policy, that is, the set of rules the European Union has adopted to support agriculture, recognising the central importance of the sector) should provide for financial measures to fund support for restoring organic matter to the soil through the use of compost derived from the recycling of organic waste and sewage sludge.
It also calls for a Carbon Credits system to be adopted for those who return organic matter to the soil, making it healthier.
If soil is a strategic environmental resource, the biowaste sector can play a fundamental supporting role.
Every year in Italy more than 7 million tonnes of organic waste are collected and sent to composting plants. The production of high-quality compost is about 2.2 million tonnes.
Organic fertiliser helps to nourish the soil, ensuring resilient agricultural security, and contributes to decarbonisation. If used correctly, compost can in fact help to combat climate change, essentially returning carbon from the atmosphere to the soil. It is estimated that every year 420,000 tonnes of organic carbon can be returned to the soil by fertilising with compost.
The financial measures requested by the CIC consist of support measures, such as the granting of direct contributions in the form of a tax credit or in other forms, for restoring organic matter to the soil through the use of composted soil improvers produced with guaranteed and assured quality.
The CIC also proposes identifying compost as a renewable organic matrix able to enter the Carbon Credits schemes that are being trialled with great success in some parts of the world.
The response from European officials in the sector was positive. ‘The aim of the EU Commission is to restore the health of all soils in the Union by 2050 and to make sustainable soil management the new normal’, said Andrea Vettori, Deputy Head of Unit, Land Use and Management – DG ENV, EU, who spoke at the conference. ‘The Soil Strategy is paving the way for a new soil health law that the European Commission will propose in the first half of 2023. This should fill an important gap and create the conditions for minimum rules in force across all EU countries.’
The event will be repeated on 5 December 2023, as every year. We suggest typing “World Soil Day 2023” into your favourite search engine to find events in your area.
