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REGENERATING THE LIVING WORLD

HEALTHY SOILS

Degraded soil affects nearly a third of the Earth's land area. Poor soil management, population pressures, and chemical fertilisers are all factors. This comes at a high cost to the environment and to farming communities who need healthy soil to grow healthy crops. UN Sustainable development goal 15 aims to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, including land and soil.

There are many actions that can be taken to protect and restore degraded soil, from replacing chemical fertiliser with organic matter like compost, household waste, leaves and pulp, to training farmers on agroforestry, where forest trees are planted alongside crops to provide shade and enrich the soil when their leaves fall and compost.

AtSource+ allows customers to track the measures that are being taken in their supply chain and identify action plans needed to drive further improvement. 

METRICS

Relevant metrics include:

Number of farmers in a farmer group trained on soil improvement initiatives

Number of hectares benefitting from integrated soil fertility management

Percentage of non-chemical Integrated Pest Management practices

Phosphorus and nitrogen use efficiency

More info on metrics? Read here

IMPACT STORIES

PAIRING COFFEE WITH LEMONGRASS FOR HEALTHIER PLANTS AND PEOPLE

The rich mix of volcanic soil of the Isale region in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and plentiful moisture fed through from the Great Lakes, provides fertile ground for happy, healthy coffee trees.

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