Soil Degradation: Overview and Critique

Abstract

Soil degradation is a “quiet crisis” (Brown and Wolf 1984; Lal 1990, 10), a “global threat” (Lal and Stewart 1990), “a silent emergency” (Dowdeswell 1998, xi), “a serious threat to sustainable development” (Chen et al. 2002, 251), a “threat to modern society” (Montgomery 2007a, 2). The view of soil degradation as grave and global is common even among those averse to hyperbole. It is so pervasive as to have captured the imagination of some political ecologists (Peet, Robbins, and Watts 2011, 25). Yet, as discussed in Chapter 3, the soil quality criteria on which this global interpretation rests are decontextualized and often informed by capitalist assumptions. Furthermore, it turns out that the interpretation relies on tenuous evidence and faulty methodology, especially regarding soil erosion. Claims made of or about soil degradation therefore need to be carefully evaluated to understand the actual state of soils and develop political alternatives accordingly.