Soil and ecosystem services
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Summary
Across the state, landholders and other custodians of soil recognise the importance of soil health in our overall ecosystems and are working on innovative ways to improve soil health and resilience on the land they care for. It is a challenge to all of us to consider how our soils are involved in producing so many of the products that we consume in daily life. The maintenance and enhancement of soil resources is essential if our future needs for food, water, and energy security are to be met.
This page will help you understand:
- why soils are an important resource that need to be conserved
- the ecosystem services provided by soils
- why land managers focus on enhancing soil function and resilience.
Did you know?
- Healthy soil is the key to food security and nutrition for all – 95% of our food such as fruit, vegetables and grains comes from our soil. As well, most of the animals for human consumption feed on plant life.
- Soil is teeming with life. As the reservoir for at least a quarter of global biodiversity, soils demand similar attention to aboveground biodiversity.
- There are more organisms on one teaspoon of healthy soil than there are people on earth (over 7 billion).
- By 2050, demand for food and fibre will increase by 70% to meet the demands of a growing world population.
Ecosystem services
Soils are a vital non-renewable resource which provide essential ecosystem services such as:
- substrate for food production
- raw materials for construction
- carbon sequestration and storage – soil organic matter is the largest store of terrestrial carbon
- water filtration and flood regulation
- nutrient cycling and storage
- habitat for biodiversity
- cultural heritage (e.g. archaeological records).
Given the importance of soils and the services they provide to the broader ecosystem, the loss of soil function has the potential to negatively impact global food security, water quality, and climate stability. Soils are classed as a non-renewable resource on a human timescale, as it takes up to 1,000 years for a centimetre of new soil to be made naturally. Therefore, once the topsoil has been lost through erosion, it is gone.
Protecting soils and enhancing soil function is therefore critical for the long-term health of ecosystems and the sustainability of farming systems.
Enhancing soil function and services
Soil function is the measure of a soil’s ability to perform the ecosystem services mentioned above. Maintaining natural soil processes is critical, as losing these will force land managers to rely on expensive artificial inputs to sustain productivity.
Resilience describes the soil’s relative capacity to ‘bounce back’ to its previous condition after a disturbance, such as drought, flood or fire. Land management practices and principles which help build soil resilience are important for safeguarding long-term soil function and services against degradation.
This includes approaches for managing dry conditions, implementing adaptive management strategies in response to a changing climate, promoting carbon sequestration in soils, and implementing revegetation and habitat restoration projects.
Find out more:
- Soil ecosystem services and natural capital (book chapter) – Stromberger et al. (2015)
- The role of soils in sustainability, climate change, and ecosystem services: challenges and opportunities (journal article) – Telo da Gama (2023)
Page Updated: April 2026
