These 11 families of best soil practices group similar soil interventions or policies that aim to protect, improve, or restore soil health across varied contexts. Click into each family’s page below to find out more about what it entails and how these strategies promote healthy soils.
A holistic approach applying circular economy principle to soil management, emphasizing closed-loop systems, soil health, and sustainability. This instrument can be used to predict how much soil will be excavated in relation to construction works and urban development in a city.
Applying Agroecological Practices
Agricultural management approach to ensures healthy farming and healthy food. It protects the soil, the water and the climate. It does not contaminate the environment with chemical inputs or use genetically engineered crops.
Implementing Soil Protection Regulations
Planning and regulatory approaches that safeguard soil and subsurface systems by reserving, protecting, or structuring their use over the long term.
Maintaining Protective Soil Cover
Planting cover crops, annual crops, and perennial crops and leaving crop residues or living mulches on the ground. Soil health practices that maintain cover year-round improve soil health and protect soil from wind and water erosion.
Restoring forest cover through reforestation or afforestation involves planting trees to restore or create forests, helping rebuild ecosystems and fight climate change
Restoring and Regenerating Degraded Soils
Process of improving the quality of soil for example, by adding organic matter, which helps to improve drainage, water retention, and nutrition for plants. It could involve returning nutrients and organic matter to the soil to restore fertility and productivity.
Public or private owned open-space areas planned to allocate parks, gardens, playgrounds and others, including plant life, water features.
Repurposing Degraded or Underused Land
Use the change of an area with the purpose of soil regeneration or conservation.
Artificial / engineered soil systems involve the deliberate design and construction of soil substrates to perform specific functions where natural soils are absent, degraded, or insufficient.
Physical removal of soil sealing (incl. paving), such as roads, parking lots, buildings, terraces, driveways, as to restore soil permeability and soil's contributions to other natural ecosystem services.
Water-sensitive practices for soil health focus on strengthening the relationship between soil and water systems to improve resilience, ecosystem functioning, and spatial quality. They aim to create a synergy between soil and water systems.