The Soil Resource and Global Environmental Challenges: The Need for Collaboration Between the Chinese and U.S. Soil Science Communities.

The pressing global challenges, including climate change, the transport and fate of contaminants, water quantity and quality, food security, adequate nutrition, and secure energy supplies are all interrelated via the soil resource. This presentation will review some of the common challenges in China and the U.S. related to proper stewardship of the soil resource. It will also define key scientific questions related to such topics as soil C sequestration, sustainable biofuel feedstock production, and waste and nutrient management that need to be approached from a global perspective.  As soil comprises the base of the ecosystem services pyramid which sustains life on the planet and is also the source of significant biodiversity on earth, it is paramount that good stewardship of the soil resource becomes a global priority.  In addition to the development of strategies for addressing key scientific challenges in a collaborative manner, strategies for how soil science informs public policy to protect and restore the soil resource globally will need to be developed through collaboration of major economic powers, including China and the U.S.