Currently soils data, knowledge and expertise is scattered across a wide range of institutions.
To help improve this situation Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) has launched the UK Soils Observatory (UKSO) website. The website will provide a portal for unified UK soils data and information that will give improved access to data and information. Such access to fully described data sets, analytical tools and analyses will allow users to access information for novel research, for public and private decision making and for general interest groups.
Soils and the land surface are where most business and industries interact with the environment: soils underpin the UK’s £172bn/year food and drink chain (3.7 million jobs), and drive UK growth in areas such as the new bio-economies, already worth 1.5 trillion euro in the EU alone. Yet soils contribute to the delivery of many ecosystem services, they are readily degraded and we need to develop better methods to conserve and improve this vital resource.
The UK is well-placed to meet these challenges as it has some of the most detailed and extensive soils data sets globally – until now these have been disparate and hard to access. The UK Soils Observatory (UKSO) will dramatically improve this situation.
This investment was funded by NERC and was delivered in partnership by CEH, BGS, JHI & Cranfield University among other contributors. The UKSO is available to all to deposit soil data sets or as a means of promoting knowledge of and access to data sets held by any one organisation.