Heading Transforming Tomorrow 14 From its inception, the Pentland Centre championed sustainable soils and land use as one of its foundational themes. Led by Lancaster Environment Centre’s Professor Jess Davies, this theme has helped transform how businesses and policymakers view soil sustainability. Prior to 2015, soils were often the ‘forgotten foundation’ of sustainability. Professor Davies set out to bring soils into the spotlight of boardroom discussions and to reframe soil sustainability as both a business imperative and an investable opportunity. Her work and that of her research group and partners has helped businesses recognise the importance of healthy soils, while influencing policies and creating mechanisms to deliver benefits across climate, biodiversity, water, and food security. A business case for soil health Writing in Nature, Professor Davies called for global businesses to get to grips with soils sustainability, highlighting the risks posed by soil degradation and the opportunities for delivering on climate commitments. With the support of a Living With Environmental Change fellowship from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), she worked closely with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) to develop a new work stream on sustainable soils. They co-developed a landmark report summarising the business case for soils from a multi-sector perspective, and highlighting the multi-faceted business case for investing in soils. This work inspired the WBCSD to launch a Soil Investment Hub to support investment in soils. The bottom line Translating awareness into action requires tools to embed soil sustainability into decision-making. Through a Valuing Nature award from the Natural Environment Research Council, Professor Davies and senior researcher Dr Victoria JanesBassett partnered with agri-food leader Olam International to produce a report on soil natural capital, identifying the pathways between soil stocks and the delivery of key services. More recently, Professor Davies has been part of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Lake District Farmers (see opposite). A natural climate solution Through the Soil Value EPSRC fellowship, Professor Davies and her team delivered new evidence on the viability of soils as a natural carbon sequestration solution. They developed new models that estimate changes in terrestrial carbon storage under different land-use and management scenarios. The development of soil carbon models led to collaborations with Defra and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) on the development of the Environmental Land Management Scheme policy and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Sustainable urban development Pentland Centre research highlighted the critical role of soils in sustainable urban development. Roisin O’Riordan’s PhD research demonstrated that urban soils are central to sustainable development and can store significant amounts of carbon. Her follow-on work helped bring together key actors to consider how soil sustainability can be integrated into planning and construction. This collaboration is helping embed soil considerations into local planning policies. Through the Rurban Revolution project, supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Pentland researchers, including Dr Lingxuan Liu, explored the potential of urban soils in enhancing national food sovereignty. The project revealed that urban green spaces could supply up to 40% of the UK’s fresh fruit and vegetable needs. Sustainable Soils and Land Use https://pod.co/transforming-tomorrow/soil-its-alive Listen...
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