SUSTAINABLE APPROACHES: SOIL DEGRADATION PROCESSES AND THEIR RECOVERY THROUGH THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY

Greetings and welcome dear readers of this prestigious platform and especially to all those who make life in the #Projecthope community. The present installment represents the third of the thematic line sustainable approaches and aims to apply technological processes in the recovery of those land spaces that have been worn out through processes such as erosion and climate change.

In this sense, we will rely on the recent research carried out by a group of researchers from the Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), whose main objective is to develop research at the level of terrestrial ecology, from the University of Barcelona in Spain.

Regarding soil recovery, the aim is to implement technological processes with sustainable projections that integrate remote sensing data and models to give a second chance to those soils where degradation due to erosion has been strongly marked.

The team has been coordinated in an interdisciplinary way between specialists in degraded areas and specialists in the area of environmental remote sensing, where it is estimated that the project will have a duration of 2 years, under the coordination of CREAF, the researchers seek to generate a standardized process that allows the application of systematic protocols for identification, intervention and monitoring of the land under study in order to recover it.

We must take into account that a soil degradation process is considered as that which occurs once the surface has lost its nutrient levels or layers of phosphates, nitrates, among others, a process that tends to take place naturally and in some cases are induced by human actions.

In other words, they are harmful and undesirable alterations that endanger the natural processes of our planet. Accordingly, the project implemented by the Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications is aimed at the study of coastal areas, Mediterranean areas, as well as those soils considered as arid and semi-arid and threatened by climate change.

The relevance of the research is based on the fact of the implications of degraded soils on agricultural productivity and the environment, where it is estimated that more than 40% of soils used for agriculture have entered an intermediate process of degradation.

It is undoubtedly a great initiative and we will be attentive to the progress of the project, which can serve as a methodological guide that can be replicated in other areas under the same conditions of degradation.

[1] Arnulfo Encina Rojas y José Ibarra. Soil degradation and its effects on the population. Article: Online Access

[2] Roberto López Falcón. (2002).. Soil degradation. Causes process, evaluation and investigation. Article: Online Access