The Desertification Convention — A First Step Towards the Protection of Soils

In its 1994 annual report, the Council focused in detail on the problem of soil degradation. The analysis showed that soils are the vulnerable thin skin of the earth for which serious “illnesses” can be diagnosed worldwide. These “illnesses” represent a serious threat to the earth’s population and biosphere that in some parts of the world is dramatic. The development of a soil-centered network of interrelationships identified twelve such illnesses (or “syndromes”), each described in a complex web of cause and effect. The analysis of the syndromes and the network of causal factors permit an improved observation of trends to be carried out and provide specific indications of political action and research planning. The results of the work continue to be of major relevance, so for a detailed description of soil-related problems reference is made here to the 1994 report.