Communicating the value of soil resources using digital platforms

土壤通过履行重要功能来维持生命，这些功能支持和维持我们的陆地生态系统，为我们提供粮食、饲料、纤维和木材；调节大气；过滤水;回收废弃物;保护我们的遗产；作为一种美学和文化资源，并提供重要的基因库和生物资源，从中提取抗生素等卫生资源。目前还没有关于土壤的主要国际政策指令，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。与此同时，在粮食生产、保护和其他应用（如工程）之间，我们利用土壤资源的方式的竞争正在加剧。在过去的五年中，NERC生态与水文中心和英国地质调查局与许多其他组织合作，通过数字信息平台使公众可以访问土壤数据。NERC MySoil应用程序具有独特的土壤数据众源能力，而英国土壤观测站网络数据门户网站被新的联合国政府间土壤技术小组讨论为传播土壤信息的未来工具。这项建议力求在这项工作的基础上，加强我们的伙伴关系，并开展对话，以推动农业食品、环境、工程、卫生和国防商业部门的知识流动。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，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，从而提高英国商业竞争力。数字平台是通过与主要利益相关者（如权力下放的政府）协商开发的，但现在，有3万多名MySoil用户专门查看和上传数据，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。我们寻求让英国企业更好地应对土壤退化的全球挑战，例如，美国外交关系委员会（Council on Foreign Relations）报告称，中国的经济增长“在过去十年中平均每年约10%的GDP增长，是以牺牲环境和公众健康为代价的”。中国的粮食安全受到土壤污染的威胁，土壤污染影响了约16%的土地和约20%的可耕地。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，我们寻求识别和了解英国企业可以协助提供信息和技术的机会，以解决这些具有重大社会和经济利益的问题。我们需要了解机会在哪里，以及如何最好地处理土壤方面的机会。我们相信，在工程、卫生和国防领域，土壤数据有新的和新兴的市场和应用，我们将确定并反馈给NERC。我们获得的所有信息将使我们能够加速知识转移，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.