Communicating the value of soil resources using digital platforms

土壤通过履行支持和维持我们的陆地生态系统的重要功能来维持生命，种植我们的食物，饲料，纤维和木材;调节大气;过滤水;回收废物;保护我们的遗产;作为美学和文化资源，并提供重要的基因库和生物资源，从中提取抗生素等健康资源。目前还没有关于土壤的重大国际政策指令，人们越来越认识到土壤及其功能正受到过度开发和气候变化的威胁。虽然我们使用土壤资源的方式之间的竞争正在增加，但粮食生产，保护和其他应用，如工程。在过去五年中，NERC生态和水文中心以及英国地质调查局与其他一些组织合作，利用数字信息平台向公众提供土壤数据。NERC MySoil应用程序具有独特的众包土壤数据的能力，而英国土壤观测网站数据门户网站被新的联合国政府间土壤技术小组讨论为未来传播土壤信息的工具。该提案旨在建立在这项工作的基础上，加强我们的伙伴关系，并发展对话，以推动农业食品，环境，工程，卫生和国防部门。该项目的主要目标之一是通过我们的数字平台提高NERC数据的可见性和吸收率，改善知识转移，通过向用户提供适当的信息，同时继续为政府政策提供信息，从而提高英国的商业竞争力。数字平台是通过与主要利益相关者协商开发的，例如下放政府，但现在，拥有30多个军队，000名专门查看和上传数据的MySoil用户，我们需要知道这些人是谁，以及我们如何更好地为他们服务。这些知识将有助于为未来NERC产品的开发提供信息，以刺激现有和新的商业机会。我们寻求更好地定位英国企业，以应对土壤退化的全球挑战，例如，外交关系理事会报告称，中国的经济崛起，在过去十年中平均每年GDP增长约10%，是以牺牲环境和公共健康为代价的。中国的粮食安全受到土壤污染的威胁，约16%的土地和约20%的耕地受到污染。这需要纳入国民核算，以便我们了解损失和使用的经济影响。此外，我们寻求确定和了解英国企业可以帮助提供信息和技术以解决这些具有重大社会和经济利益的问题的机会。我们需要了解机会在哪里，以及如何在土壤方面最好地解决这些问题。我们相信，在工程、健康和国防领域，土壤数据有新的和新兴的市场和应用，我们将识别这些市场和应用，并将其反馈给NERC。我们获得的所有信息将使我们能够加快知识转移，并通过更新和指导新产品和工具来更好地告知NERC和我们的利益相关者，以刺激社会和经济福祉。

SummarySoils sustain life through fulfilling vital functions that support and sustain our terrestrial ecosystems, grow our food, feed, fiber and wood; regulate the atmosphere; filter water; recycle waste; preserve our heritage; act as an aesthetic and cultural resource, and provide a vital gene pool and biological resource from which health resources such as antibiotics have been extracted. There is no major international policy directive on soil, and there is increasing recognition that soils and the functions they fulfill are under threat from over exploitation and climate change. Whilst competition over the way we use soil resources is increasing between food production, conservation and other applications such as engineering. Over the past five years the NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and British Geological Survey have partnered with a number of other organizations to make soils data accessible to the general public using digital information platforms. The NERC MySoil app has the unique ability to crowd-source soil data, whilst the UK Soil Observatory web data portal was discussed by the new United Nations Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils as the future style of tool for disseminating soil information.This proposal seeks to build on this work, enhance our partnerships and develop the dialogue to drive the flow of knowledge within the agri-food, environmental, engineering, health and defence business sectors. One of this projects main objectives is to increase UK business competitiveness by enhancing the visibility and uptake of NERC data through our digital platforms, improving knowledge transfer, through targeting users with the appropriate information whilst also continuing to inform government policy.The digital platforms were developed by consultation with major stakeholders, such as devolved Government, but now, with an army of more than 30,000 dedicated MySoil users who view and upload data, we need to know who these people are, and how we can better serve them. This knowledge will help to inform the development of future NERC products to stimulate existing and new business opportunities.We seek to better position UK business to address the global challenges of soil degradation, for example, the Council on Foreign Relations reports that China's, 'economic rise, which has averaged around 10% annual GDP growth for the past decade, has come at the expense of its environment and public health.' China's food security is threatened by soil pollution impacting ~16% of land and ~20% of arable soil. This needs to be incorporated into national accounting so we understand the economic impacts of losses and uses. Moreover we seek to identify and understand opportunities where UK business can assist in providing information and technologies to address these issues, which are of major social and economic interest. We need to understand where the opportunities are, and how they can best be addressed with regard to soils. We believe there are new and emerging markets and applications for soils data in the engineering, health and defence sectors which we will identify and feedback into NERC. All the information we gain, will allow us to accelerate knowledge transfer and better inform NERC and our stakeholders through updating and guiding new products and tools to stimulate social and economic wellbeing.