Detachable Subdivision
"Rivne Professional College of
National University of Life
and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine"
Every year on December 5, with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Food Day is celebrated. World Soil Day (World Soil Day). The International Union of Soil Science (IUSS) first initiated the establishment of World Soil Day in 2002. However, it was not until December 2013 at the 68th UN General Assembly that December 5 was officially declared World Soil Day.
The theme of this year's WSD celebration is "Caring for Soils: Measuring, Monitoring, Managing" highlights the importance of accurate soil data and information to understand soil characteristics and support informed decision-making on sustainable soil management for food security.
Soils provide vital ecosystem functions and play a critical role in shaping food systems. It is estimated that 95 percent of our food comes directly or indirectly from soil. Soils are a major means of producing not only food and feed for livestock, but also fuels, natural fibers, and medicines.
On the occasion of World Soil Day, FAO in Ukraine has prepared a cartoon to draw public attention to the importance of keeping soil alive. It can be viewed at the link:
The Russian military aggression has turned the world's most fertile black soil into a huge minefield.. As a result of the movement and damage of land military equipment, soil compaction and contamination with fuel and lubricants occur. In soils soaked with oil products, water permeability decreases, oxygen is displaced, biochemical and microbiological processes are disrupted. As a result, water and air regimes and nutrient cycling deteriorate, root nutrition of plants is disrupted, their growth and development are inhibited, which causes degradation of vegetation cover and increases wind and water erosion.
According to the Center for Environmental Initiatives “Ecodia”, during the explosion of shells and rockets, a number of chemical compounds are formed: carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), water vapor (H2O), brown gas (NO), nitrous oxide (N2O), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), formaldehyde (CH2O), cyanide vapor (HCN), nitrogen (N2), as well as a large amount of toxic organics, oxidize the surrounding soil, wood, turf, and structures. All substances undergo complete oxidation, and the products of the chemical reaction are released into the atmosphere. The main ones – carbon dioxide and water vapor – are not toxic, but harmful in the context of climate change, since both are greenhouse gases. In the atmosphere, sulfur and nitrogen oxides can cause acid rain, which changes the pH of the soil and causes burns to plants, to which conifers are particularly sensitive.
Scientists proposed using domestic and international experience in eliminating the consequences of armed aggression and hostilities in Ukraine, which includes reclamation, land reclamation, remediation (the process of removing pollutants from the environment) and restoration of degraded soils, in particular, soils contaminated with oil products as a result of military damage to oil refineries, pipelines and tanks; increasing soil fertility by growing perennial cereal bioenergy crops, etc.
Nelya RUSINA,
Head of the cyclical commission of land management disciplines
