Soil degradation poses a critical threat to global environment, ecosystem services, and agricultural sustainability. Natural and agricultural systems are increasingly vulnerable to severe degradation processes—including desertification, soil erosion, salinisation, and chemical pollution—driven by the combined pressures of climate change and anthropogenic activity. Shifting precipitation regimes and rising average temperatures disrupt the soil water balance, intensifying water deficits, nutrient losses, and increasing soil salinity. Concurrently, unsustainable land management, deforestation, intensive cultivation, and the overapplication of agrochemicals accelerate physical and chemical disturbances that impair overall soil quality and biodiversity.
This session convenes research—from long-term field observation plots to advanced remote and proximal sensing—to systematically examine the mechanisms, impacts, and indicators of soil degradation, resistance, and resilience across diverse land uses and environmental contexts. We welcome contributions that quantify how land-use dynamics drive the depletion of critical soil functional properties and evaluate spatial and temporal trends in soil health.
In parallel, the session explores innovative, evidence-based soil conservation strategies designed to halt and reverse soil degradation. Key topics include sustainable management practices such as conservation agriculture, agroforestry, organic amendments, targeted erosion control, and soil salinity management. We place strong emphasis on how these practices restore soil structure, improve water retention, and foster biological activity, thereby enhancing ecosystem capacity to buffer extreme weather events. Finally, we highlight the integration of long-term observational data with policy frameworks and participatory stakeholder approaches. By bridging observational science with sustainable soil management, this session aims to advance available approaches for long-term soil conservation, agricultural productivity, and overall soil functionality.