Soil and Sustainable Development: Challenges and Solutions

Dear Colleagues,

The conservation and rehabilitation of degraded soils are two of the greatest challenges of humanity in this century. Pollution, compaction, impoverishment of organic matter, erosion, and loss of biodiversity are some of the threats identified at European and global level, which require urgent and coordinated action by the scientific community and the main social groups involved in soil management. Some of the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations, such as the eradication of poverty and hunger (SDGs 1 and 2), the establishment of the conditions for the health and welfare of human beings (SDG 3), the improvement of water quality (SDG 6), and the protection of life and terrestrial ecosystems (SDG 15), depend directly on the quality of the soil and the restoration of its functions and services. The soil will also be a great ally of humans in the fight against climate change, if it is properly managed. The Iberian Peninsula, due to its geographical location, has unique and common characteristics associated with a great diversity of soils and edaphoclimatic conditions, concentrated in a relatively small area. The effectiveness of the measures adopted to protect the soils will benefit the exchange of experiences and knowledge, as well as the common actions on both sides of the border. Emerging and innovative technologies at the service of soil sciences will also be a critical factor for “precision conservation”, not only for mapping and characterizing the soil as a resource, but also for data exchange and in the support of the decision-making underlying its sustainable management.

The Iberian Conference on the theme “Soil and Sustainable Development: Challenges and Solutions” (CISDS2020) aims to bring together specialists from the Iberian field of various scientific and technological areas that contribute in the exchange of results of their research and technological developments, for the following themes:

• Environmental pollution and risk assessment;
• Urban soils (including compaction and waterproofing);
• Climate change impacts on soils and edaphic communities;
• Soil biodiversity;
• Soil quality indicators;
• Remote sensing applied to mapping and soil management;
• Citizen science at the service of best practices of soil management and conservation;
• Soil salinization;
• Emerging pollutants (such as microplastics, nanomaterials, antibiotics, etc.);
• Organic waste valorization;
• Soil functions and ecosystem services;
• Soil organic matter;
• Other threats (erosion, desertification, natural disasters).

All the authors of accepted contributions at CISDS2020 are invited to submit manuscripts.

Dr. David Fernández-Calviño
Dr. Manuel Arias-Estevez
Prof. Dr. Ruth Pereira
Dr. Joana Lourenço
Guest Editors

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