05/06/2026
As we commemorate World Environment Day 2026 today, we raise concerns about the current trend of soil loss in our environment due to chemical-based farming systems. Globally, around 75 billion tons of topsoil are lost annually, with conventional or chemical-based farming acting as one of the major contributors.
In our Citizen Science research in Lake Sebu, we found that during a single cropping, the soil lost per hectare was five times higher in fields that used glyphosate—a systemic herbicide—compared to traditional, indigenous farming systems.
Around 39 cubic meters of soil was lost in conventional farming, compared to just 7 cubic meters in the traditional farming system. Read more about our research: Engineered erosion: Citizen Science and the battle to save Lake Sebu’s soil in the Philippines - SIANI (https://www.siani.se/blog/engineered-erosion-citizen-science-and-the-battle-to-save-lake-sebus-soil-in-the-philippines/)
This World Environment Day, we maintain that soil, as a vital resource in agriculture, must be conserved. !
It's time to and protect biodiversity and the environment through agroecology.
