Wasting and destroying our natural resources, stripping and depleting the soil instead of increasing its usability - this will already significantly diminish the opportunities for our children to enjoy the pleasure we are obliged to give them - bigger and more developed.
(Theodore Roosevelt)
Man has done more harm to the Earth in the 20th century than in its entire history.
(Jacques Yves Cousteau)
Everything comes from the soil and everything returns to the soil.
(Xenophanes)
If you really think pollution is less important than economics, try not to breathe while counting money.
(Guy McPherson)
The pollution of the environment, air, water and soil is different throughout the epochs of humanity. Considering the degree of environmental degradation, there are three epochs in the development of human civilization:
- agricultural which lasted until the mid-nineteenth century,
- industrial through 1950 and
- technical-technological which spans the second half of the 20th century and continues to this day.
In the first epoch, degradation was minimal, almost negligible, but with the increase in population and increasing human activity in nature, the degree of degradation of natural ecosystems and the environment as a whole increased. The intensive development of industry at the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century and the production for profit, the use of fossil fuels as energy sources, havethreatened the environment on a larger scale, thus raising the question of the survival of life on planet Earth.
In modern society, 21st century society, environmental protection is one of the leading topics. We can easily encounter examples of pollution both in the territory of our state, city or municipality, as well as in countries all over the world. Consciousness about environment preservation was, unfortunately, developed only when the environment reached the point of extermination of animal species, ozone depletion, global warming, water, air, soil pollution. Only then did the question of preserving environment arise as well as what damage people are causing to the environment.. Only then did the question of preserving environment arise and people started to worry about damage that they are causing to the environment.
The UN Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, adopted the Declaration on the Environment and Sustainable Development, which contained 27 basic environmental principles. The basic point of the Rio Declaration is that life and harmony with nature represent the basic purpose of human existence. The basic principles in the declaration, refers to sustainable development, preventiveness, recycling, publicity of environmental data, and there are principles - "polluter pays" and "user pays".
One of the most important principles is Principle 10, which states:
“Environmental problems are best addressed with the participation of all concerned citizens at the appropriate level. At the national level, each individual must have adequate access to environmental information held by public authorities, including information on hazardous substances and activities in their community, and the ability to participate in the decision-making process. States will support and foster public awareness and participation by ensuring widespread access to information."
How efficiently we manage an area today will directly determine if the values of the area are preserved for future generations or are destroyed.
The world went into ecological debt on July 29, 2019, which will say that by this date, we have spent more than planet Earth's ecosystems can recover in a year[1]1. The Ecological Debt Day this year marks the earliest since measurements are taken. The Global Footprint Network calculates an overdraft day for each year. Last year, it went into debt on August 1st. We were within the "budget" of Earth's natural resources until about 1970, when Earth's Ecological Debt Day was December 23. In ten years, in 1980, the debt was entered into six weeks earlier, and in 1990 it was October 13. In 2000, the planet entered into debt on October 4, and in 2010, at the end of August, more precisely on the 28th day of the month. Now, nine years later, that record has been broken.
The purpose of the Soil Protection Guide:
- To be technical basis for all project capacity building activities;
- To provide relevant, accurate and timely information on the environment and land protection, especially in agriculture;
- To present examples of good soil protection practices in the EU;
- To support project replication and sustainability.
[1] BBCnews in Serbian: Ecological debt: One Earth is not enough for life to us - we currently need 1.75 planets, July 29, 2019.