Healthy soil helps mitigate disaster risk

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Introduction

Improving soil health is vital for preventing and managing disasters. This is especially important as extreme weather events caused by climate change—such as droughts, floods, and wildfires—become more common.

Resilient soils, wetlands, and forests have a higher capacity for water storage. Improved water retention can mitigate the impact of floods and droughts while enhancing the environment's resilience to landslides and soil erosion. Soils with high water infiltration rates also support the growth of wildfire-resistant vegetation.

At the same time, natural hazards such as wildfires degrade soil, increasing the risk of erosion, landslides, and flooding. Effective soil management and monitoring can significantly reduce disaster risks. In addition, strengthening the Soil Knowledge Base can improve disaster risk assessments and highlight soils' crucial role in disaster mitigation.

Related links
Waste and disaster risk
Nature-based solutions for disaster risk reduction

Knowledge base

Research briefs

Understanding how wildfires change soil could aid recovery

A new study finds broader surveillance and modelling of chemical changes produced by wildfires, could inform strategies for protecting lives, property, and natural resources, and managing wildlife.
Stanford University
Research briefs

Climate change and land use are accelerating soil erosion by water

Soil loss due to water runoff could increase greatly around the world over the next 50 years due to climate change and intensive land cultivation.
University of Basel
Research briefs

Soils could be affected by climate change, impacting water and food

According to a new Rutgers-led study, climate change may reduce the ability of soils to absorb water in many parts of the world and may lead to serious ramifications.
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Update

USA: The dirt on soil loss from the Midwest flood

As devastating images of the 2019 Midwest floods fade from view, an insidious and longer-term problem is emerging across its vast plains: The loss of topsoil that much of the nation’s food supply relies on. Active management of soil will likely be required to counteract the negative long-term effects of flooding.
Conversation Media Group, the
Update

Malawi: Restoring degraded lands key to strengthening resilience

In Malawi, a watershed restoration project successfully reduced soil erosion, increased moisture during the 2016 drought, and prevented flood damages. The project shows the importance of restoration, soil, and water conservation investments, as well as the importance of combining natural resource management with other interventions and community ownership.
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Update

Using Earth observation data to restore barren lands

The Group of Earth Observations has launched the GEO LDN, a new initiative that brings together Earth observation data providers and governments to develop the quality standards, analytical tools and capacity building needed to strengthen land degradation monitoring and reporting, using remote sensing and data collected on site.
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
Update

Kenyan farmers try to sweep away landslide risks with bamboo

As extreme rainfall brings more landslides, farmers are planting bamboo to reforest and protect their land while making an income from their bamboo by using it to construct furniture, fence poles, and even homes. Meanwhile, government assistance remains insufficient, forcing farmers to divide their time between paid work and planting more bamboo trees.
Thomson Reuters Foundation, trust.org
Research briefs

We need more carbon in our soil to help Australian farmers through the drought

Researchers have discovered that the carbon found in biowastes, such as compost and crop residues, helps capture and retain moisture for crop growth, reducing the impact of drought on soil health and productivity. Australian farmers must apply good farming practices during good periods to be better prepared for inevitable droughts.
Conversation Media Group, the
Update

Breaking the dry-spell: integrating water and soil management for better yields and resilience

New research shows that the best interventions for ensuring water productivity in agriculture – whether the source is rainwater or irrigation – are integrated approaches that look at both water and soil management. These approaches can increase yields by at least 27% on average across all intervention technologies.
Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
Update

With 'worm juice,' Kenya's farmers boost their soil - and harvests

Prolonged drought and storm-related flooding have combined to erode fertile soils in rural parts of Kenya. Rearing worms, known as vermiculture, is a simple solution that sees farmers harvest the nutrients from "worm juice," a cost-efficient alternative fertilizer.
Thomson Reuters Foundation, trust.org

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