Organiser: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
During the session “Soil Biodiversity in Action” on 21 April 2021, Dr Serena Caucci presents the work titled “Soil Biodiversity Teems with Life but Faces Pollution. Are We Acting Correctly in Agroecosystems?” The presentation is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. (CEST).
She showcases the systematic study on how biodiversity performs under anthropogenic pressures and how holistically biodiversity studies are represented in current research. Dr Caucci will highlight how the majority of the studies related to soil biodiversity tend to focus on single biota groups/family and their interaction rather than comprehensive soil biodiversity understanding. Research efforts remain siloed, and thus an integrated understanding of relationships between groups shaping biodiversity is still challenging, especially when it comes to land-use management in agricultural practices. In this work, we prove the effectiveness of biodiversity-based solutions on the mitigation of soil biodiversity loss in agro-ecosystem posed under pollution. The application of symbiotic microorganisms to the soil during agriculture activities increases microbiological diversity. It also enhances its vitality at the rhizosphere level and with that, supports sustainable development in agriculture.
The study is part of joint work between Dr Serena Caucci and Dr Lulu Zhang (UNU-FLORES) on the Nexus Resource Thinking for Biodiversity Resilience of Anthropogenic-based Ecosystems.
The Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity (GSOBI21), ‘Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity’ is a science-policy meeting, taking place entirely virtually from 19–22 April 2021.
This is a conference jointly organised by the UN FAO and its Global Soil Partnership (GSP), the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS), together with the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (GSBI), and the Science-Policy Interface of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (SPI UNCCD).
The main objective is to fill some critical knowledge gaps and promote discussion among policymakers, food producers, scientists, practitioners, and other stakeholders on solutions to live in harmony with nature, and ultimately, achieve the SDGs through the conservation and sustainable use of soil biodiversity.
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