December 9 of this year the III International Conference “National Challenge: Soil Degradation or Restoration of Their Fertility” was held.
Organizers of the conference: Strategic Committee for Revival of Soil Fertility, Public Union of Producers of Organic Certified Products “Organic Ukraine” and “BTU-Center” company.
This event is being held for the third year in a row, but this year, unfortunately, its problems have significantly increased. This, of course, is connected with the full-scale Russian invasion and the deployment of hostilities on the territory of Ukraine.
The purpose of the conference is to discuss issues related to the deterioration of the soil as a result of military operations on the territory of Ukraine, the need to assess the extent of their damage and suitability for use as agricultural land. At the same time, the long-standing problems of land degradation were raised, as well as practical recommendations for agricultural producers regarding the preservation of soil fertility were considered.
The main goal of the event is to create a stable partnership between science, education, the state and business to take important strategic steps to revive soil fertility.
The conference included three sections – “Soil degradation: new challenges and perspectives”, “Modern methods of determining soil health” and “Practical steps to restore soil fertility”.
Svitlana Romanova, deputy general director for scientific activities, spoke as a speaker at the conference from the state institution “Institute of Soil Protection of Ukraine” in the section “Soil degradation: new challenges and prospects”.In her report “Ecological and agrochemical examination of agricultural lands in the war zone”, she raised the problem of soil pollution in the places of active hostilities. Military conflicts significantly affect soil properties mainly due to its certain physical and chemical disturbances and pollution, which are especially dangerous for agricultural soils.
Svitlana Romanova emphasized that in order to prevent negative consequences for the human body, it is necessary to conduct careful monitoring of soil areas damaged and contaminated as a result of hostilities, which will allow timely measures to be taken for their reproduction and rehabilitation, as well as to establish the boundaries of contaminated areas in order to their restoration.