Introduction to Ecological Risk Assessment - Dealing with Contaminated Sites: From Theory Towards Practical Application - page 613

sustainability in soil policy is related to a good soil quality 'here and now' and,
in the context of this topic, 'in the wider surroundings and in the future' as well.
It is generally acknowledged that the strain on the environment, including on soil
ecosystems, is so intense that its functioning for future generations cannot be taken
for granted (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005 ). And the worldwide strain on
soil ecosystems is expected to increase in the future even more. Agricultural needs,
for example, may demand a tripling of the amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous
where agricultural practices are used in order to achieve a doubling in food produc-
tion (Tilman et al. 2001 ). Therefore, new incentives and policies for ensuring the
sustainability of Ecosystem Services will be crucial if we are to meet the demands
of improving yields without compromising environmental integrity (Tilman et al.
2001 ). This is even more important when future generations need to be able to profit
from past developments, the general idea behind the 'cradle to cradle' philosophy
(McDonough and Braungart 2002 ).
Generally, sustainability is approached from an environmental, economic and
social context. Environment, or ecology, is often made central to many approaches,
ascribing a higher hierarchic level to it. From this perspective, sustainability pri-
marily focuses on the environment and, hence, on the soil ecosystem ('here and
now', and 'in the wider surroundings and in the future'), while the provision of a
good economic and social structure are important boundary conditions. Attention to
sustainable development got a big push at the 1992 United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro (United Nations 1992 ).
Sustainable development, mainly for developed countries, was strongly advocated
at the conference. The aim was that unsustainable patterns of production and
consumption needed to be eliminated.
The association of an ecologically healthy soil and sustainability promoted
the position of the soil ecosystem when defining Risk Management solutions.
Remediation Objectives, for example, often include ecological criteria. Dawson
et al. ( 2007 ) concluded that there has been a move towards the consideration of
biological indicators for Hazard Assessment in conjunction with the remediation of
contaminated soils.
13.8.2 The Benefits of Sustainability
In the early days, sustainable soil management was the logical option in agricultural
practice, since humans were not able to repair land that was depleted. The only alter-
native that early man had was to leave the land and look for other places to grow
crops or to graze their cattle. For many centuries, humans were able to live in close
cooperation with natural physical soil conditions such as agricultural micro-relief,
and existing rivers and ditches for drainage and irrigation. More recently, however,
humans have learned to control physical soil conditions on a regional scale (starting
in many countries in the nineteenth century) and learned to control the chemical
soil conditions (since the twentieth century) through the use of fertilisers and pesti-
cides. As a result, it was often believed that humans were able to allow themselves
a short-term policy vis-à-vis land management. However, during the last decade or