Linking Soil Threats and Mitigating Management Practices Across Climates: Insights From a Global Soil-Expert Survey

Abstract

Climate change, population growth, and intensifying land use are exerting increasing pressure on soil resources worldwide. Despite growing knowledge of soil degradation processes, the relationship between soil threats and the effectiveness of management practices remains poorly synthesized. Here we present a comparative assessment of soil expert perspectives on soil threats and mitigation practices based on a survey of 162 soil experts from 38 countries. Across tropical, arid, and temperate climates, soil experts evaluated the importance of soil threats and the perceived effectiveness and use of key soil management practices, whereas also highlighting examples of locally adapted innovations. Across all responses, the most important soil threats were organic matter decline (overall rating of 4.2 on a five-point scale), soil erosion (4.1), and biodiversity loss (3.9), indicating broad agreement on the primary drivers of soil degradation. Mitigating management strategies (crop diversification, reduced tillage, organic inputs, and agroforestry) were consistently perceived as effective across climates (scores from 3.7 to 4.0); however, their implementation was not as widespread (2.6 to 3.2). Differences among climate groups were detectable for some soil threats, such as the higher perceived importance of organic matter decline in tropical climates and the greater relevance of salinization in arid climates. Soil experts also highlighted locally developed climate-smart farming systems, including Milpa intercropped with fruit trees in alternating strips (MIAF), Zero-budget natural farming, and agrivoltaic systems, with potential for upscaling and wider application across contexts. Overall, this global soil expert survey identifies common priorities in soil threats and management practices across three major climate groups, while illustrating how local environmental and socio-economic conditions shape the selection of sustainable soil management practices. These findings provide a comparative perspective to inform future research, monitoring, and soil management strategies.