Frontiers in earth observation for global soil properties assessment linked to environmental and socio-economic factors

Soil has garnered global attention for its role in food security and climate change. Fine-scale soil-mapping techniques are urgently needed to support food, water, and biodiversity services. A global soil dataset integrated into an Earth observation system and supported by cloud computing enabled the development of the first global soil grid of six key properties at a 90-m spatial resolution. Assessing them from environmental and socio-economic perspectives, we demonstrated that 64% of the world's topsoils are primarily sandy, with low fertility and high susceptibility to degradation. These conditions limit crop productivity and highlight potential risks to food security. Results reveal that approximately 900 Gt of soil organic carbon (SOC) is stored up to 20 cm deep. Arid biomes store three times more SOC than mangroves based on total areas. SOC content in agricultural soils is reduced by at least 60% compared to soils under natural vegetation. Most agricultural areas are being fertilized while simultaneously experiencing a depletion of the carbon pool. By integrating soil capacity with economic and social factors, we highlight the critical role of soil in supporting societal prosperity. The top 10 largest countries in area per continent store 75% of the global SOC stock. However, the poorest countries face rapid organic matter degradation. We indicate an interconnection between societal growth and spatially explicit mapping of soil properties. This soil-human nexus establishes a geographically based link between soil health and human development. It underscores the importance of soil management in enhancing agricultural productivity and promotes sustainable-land-use planning.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Innovation
Published
2025-06-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2025.100985
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Soil Geostatistics and Mapping
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
2.40

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article

Frontiers in earth observation for global soil properties assessment linked to environmental and socio-economic factors

Robert Milewski, Danilo César de Mello, Asa Gholizadeh, Jingyi Huang et al.
3 citations
The Innovation
Soil Geostatistics and Mapping
2.40
article

Frontiers in earth observation for global soil properties assessment linked to environmental and socio-economic factors

Robert Milewski, Danilo César de Mello, Asa Gholizadeh, Jingyi Huang, Nikolaos Tziolas, Rodnei Rizzo, Masakazu Kodaira, Quirijn de Jong van Lier, Cécile Gomez, Raúl Roberto Poppiel, Emmanuelle Vaudour, James Kobina Mensah Biney, Merilyn Taynara Accorsi Amorim, Asmaa Abdelbaki, Najmeh Asgari Hafshejani, Nikolaos Tsakiridis, Abdel-Aziz Belal, Budiman Minasny, Márcio Rocha Francelino, Jorge Tadeu Fim Rosas, I. Yu. Savin, Eleni Kalopesa, Nícolas Augusto Rosin, Sabine Grunwald, Ho Jun Jang, Sabine Chabrillat, Elsayed Said Mohamed, Yufeng Ge, Songchao Chen, Salman Naimi Marandi, D. Nagesh Kumar, A. V. Zhogolev, S. Dharumarajan, Changkun Wang, Yongsheng Hong, Rudiyanto Rudiyanto, Abdolhossein Ayoubi, José Padarian Campusano, Jean Jesus Macedo Novais, Gan‐Lin Zhang, Eyal Ben‐Dor, Yuxin Ma, Letícia Guadagnin Vogel
article en
3 citations

Abstract

Soil has garnered global attention for its role in food security and climate change. Fine-scale soil-mapping techniques are urgently needed to support food, water, and biodiversity services. A global soil dataset integrated into an Earth observation system and supported by cloud computing enabled the development of the first global soil grid of six key properties at a 90-m spatial resolution. Assessing them from environmental and socio-economic perspectives, we demonstrated that 64% of the world's topsoils are primarily sandy, with low fertility and high susceptibility to degradation. These conditions limit crop productivity and highlight potential risks to food security. Results reveal that approximately 900 Gt of soil organic carbon (SOC) is stored up to 20 cm deep. Arid biomes store three times more SOC than mangroves based on total areas. SOC content in agricultural soils is reduced by at least 60% compared to soils under natural vegetation. Most agricultural areas are being fertilized while simultaneously experiencing a depletion of the carbon pool. By integrating soil capacity with economic and social factors, we highlight the critical role of soil in supporting societal prosperity. The top 10 largest countries in area per continent store 75% of the global SOC stock. However, the poorest countries face rapid organic matter degradation. We indicate an interconnection between societal growth and spatially explicit mapping of soil properties. This soil-human nexus establishes a geographically based link between soil health and human development. It underscores the importance of soil management in enhancing agricultural productivity and promotes sustainable-land-use planning.

The InnovationVol. 6(9)
National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (EG), Leibniz University Hannover (DE), University of Nebraska–Lincoln (US), Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RU), The University of Sydney (AU), University of Wisconsin System (US), NSW Department of Planning and Environment (AU), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), Universidade Federal de Viçosa (BR), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (MY), Tel Aviv University (IL), Zhejiang University of Science and Technology (CN), Isfahan University of Technology (IR), ParisTech (FR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZ), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR), AgroParisTech (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Sydney Water (AU), University of Florida (US), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Exact Sciences (United States) (US), Forest Science and Research Institute (BR), International Center for Tropical Agriculture (KE), Institut Agro Montpelier (FR), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (BR), GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences (DE), ICAR-National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning (IN), V.V. Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute (RU), Institute of Soil Science (CN), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), University of Manitoba (CA), Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IN), Fayoum University (EG), Zhejiang University (CN), Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (JP)
Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Government Council on Grants, Russian Federation, Ministry of Information Industry of the People's Republic of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Soil Geostatistics and Mapping
2.40
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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