The Mobilisation Programme for SOIL is an international programme, open to all individuals or legal entities, wishing to contribute through their thoughts and/or actions towards making people aware of the fundamental importance of soil. Soil is the essential resource for life on our planet, a real heritage of humanity, and yet so underrated.

Human beings are being compelled to completely review their attitudes regarding natural resources and soil resources in particular given the rising world population and environmental and food related concerns, and restricted soil resources of our planet and the ever widening imbalance between the degradation of soil and its functions and speed of soil regeneration.

Developing awareness and knowledge about this environment amongst all citizens will make us protect this essential resource and use it more carefully, responsibly and in moderation.

Its aims and objectives

The Mobilisation Programme for SOIL has three priorities:

• To help evolve peoples’ mentalities regarding soil. This aim is based on one of the simplest observations: there is soil degradation because our society doesn’t know the soil, neither does it know the various functions that it fulfils. Therefore we have to do the needful for a collective consciousness of the existence of soil resources and their crucial importance for the future of humankind. It is indeed a very pedagogical approach aiming to build a new perspective towards soil.

• To reassert the status of soil. Along with the first aim which will be achieved over a period of time, it is necessary to draw the attention of the leaders to the consequences of poor management of soil resources and thus make them reconsider the status of soil, to raise it to the rank of a natural resource, which is not easily renewable and whose use should follow certain rules and specifications. To that end, this programme proposes to reflect upon ways and means to induce the countries of this planet to efficiently manage their soil resources and to bring the international community and international bodies to adopt a responsible attitude vis-a-vis this resource.

• To lay the foundations of an international support against soil degradation. We are well aware of the fact that the fight against soil degradation has fewer chances of succeeding without support from the international community, which alone can help reduce the pressure on soil in places where decreasing fertility, degradation and erosion are becoming more extensive.

Its means

The Mobilisation Programme for SOIL contributes to and supports all initiatives, whether individual or collective, which reinforce these objectives. It organises local, regional and international meetings and publishes their proceedings. It publishes data and has an Internet site. It is supported by the Charles Léopold Mayer Foundation and functions within the framework of a larger collective dynamics, that draws its inspiration from the Platform for a responsible and united world - 1993, which aims at taking up the challenges of the 21st century. A number of key personalities, specialists and non-specialists in soil resources, numerous countries and cultures are members of this programme.

Rabah Lamar

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