The Meta Soil Model: An Integrative Multi-model Framework for Soil Security

Abstract

The profound human-centric dominance in the Anthropocene has created changes in land use, biomes, climate, food networks, economies, and social communities, which in turn have impacted global resources, such as food, energy, and water, as well as the soils, that humanity and other terrestrial life-forms depend on for survival. We posit that a new integrative science is needed to support global soil security that facilitates improved soil synthesis of data, knowledge, understanding, experiences, beliefs, values, and actions related to soils considering multiple perspective dimensions, such as soil-environment, soil-politics, and soil-human. Integrative soil security – a new term we coin in this paper – is based on (i) integration of individual and collective human needs, uses, values, beliefs, and perceptions of soils coalesced with (ii) quantitative knowledge of soils derived through empirical observation and quantitative analysis as well as (iii) systems that soils are embedded in (e.g., economic, political, social, and legal systems). We propose a Meta Soil Model (MSM) that is rooted in integral theory and integral ecology as the foundation for a new integral soil security with cognizance as the key integrator. We define an MSM as an integrative, multi-model framework to assess soil security within the context of regional and global human-environmental interactions. The MSM fosters enactment for securing soils rooted in inter-, trans-, and post-(integral) disciplinary thinking and allows to diagnose integration gaps, such as the values and beliefs people hold about soils and scientist’s observations, data, maps, and models of soils, ultimately constraining global soil security.