Soil Health

Definitions and Indicators

FAO

The FAO takes a global approach to soil health and maintains databases of soil health assessments for soils worldwide . Soils can be assessed using either an absolute framework or a relative framework. The absolute definition of soil health compares a given soil to a set of ideal properties, whereas the relative definition takes into account the current use of that soil. A degraded soil under sparse vegetation might have low soil health on the absolute scale, but may score well on the relative scale since the soil properties support the existing ecosystem (FAO, 2016b).

References

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