Soil degradation and contamination is one of the major current problems facing society. The quality and health of soils affect environmental and human health, not only directly in terms of their capacity to retain or immobilise contaminants, both inorganic and organic, but also indirectly in terms of water quality or food security. The role of soils, as well as the mechanisms that can be promoted to deal with their degradation and contamination, represent major challenges, as solutions need to address multifactorial characteristics and be adapted to each context.
The aim of this session is to bring together research studies that address the relationship between soil quality and environmental and human health, through processes, pathways or even temporal effects of exposure to contaminants and their registration in soil. The aim is to integrate and promote work that improves mechanisms for assessing environmental quality and human health with soil indicators, both for agricultural/forestry and urban soils, as well as mitigation or remediation strategies for soils adapted to reduce the risk they pose. Studies focusing on new technologies for assessing and improving soil quality and multidisciplinary approaches to sustainable soil management and its impact on human health will also be highlighted.
We invite colleagues to present studies and form new alliances with cross-cutting, multidisciplinary approaches to propose solutions or ways to identify risks related to soil health and quality of environmental and human health.