Posts
From the SSSN Platform
Soil has taken
the centre stage of Planetary Sustainable Development.We in SSSN must become
part of this dynamics in Global thinking, speaking and practise
in Nigeria.
On March 3, 2019
MK Hamadina, citing Arnalds (2006), onThe Future of Soil Scienceposted the
comment: The time has come for Soil Science to cut the umbilical cord that ties
soil science to agronomy. Soil Science deserves a place as an academic
discipline in itself … meet the multiple needs of many disciplines for soil
science knowledge … The future calls for more interactions of soil scientists
with professionals of other disciplines for obtaining more comprehensive
understanding of the Earth’s ecosystem. On the heels of that, he posted
another titled: Future of Soil Science in Sub-Saharan Africa. Reacting to that
post, Dr. Olayiwole Onasanya stated that Soil Science should move beyond the confines
of Agriculture to the Environment, Engineering, Medical Sciences and other
disciplines. ThatWe need to develop a curriculum at our
Universities and it is important that the society should begin to organize
courses to upgrade the knowledge of its members.
Prof AA Amusan
indicated that For close to three decades now in Nigeria and the world over, many Soil
Scientists had been teaching and researching into soils for Food Security,
National Development and Sustainable Environment. ThatWe
can only encourage such approaches in capacity building and in extending the
frontiers of knowledge in our discipline.
Prof. FK Salako
observed that These publications (probably Soil Science in Sub-Saharan Africa, etc.)
date back to the year 2000. They were borne out of the push to emphasize Soil
Science as both Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The publications were
futuristic for the Millennium. He indicated a constraint deriving from the
regulatory authority of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and how they
at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) resolved the
constraint.
Prof AA Amusan
further said that To effect the necessary changes in orientation and perception of Soil
Science to other sub-disciplines, perhaps through NISS, there is need to begin
fromSSS(Senior Secondary School?) level where Soil is taught for less than 4
weeks (at the SSS level) in three years. Now, some sub-disciplines of
Agriculture are treated as Stand-Alone subjects at the same level.It is even worse
with Agronomy Departments in most of our National Universities. The problem
needs to be addressed please, he concluded.
Prof Fasina
Abayomi proposed that We may need to saddle some of our senior
colleagues with the assignment of coming up with a robust curriculum that will
allow Soil Science to fit into other disciplines and make Soil Science more
relevant to our society.On July 7, 2019 Prof. Ogban posted Hello
all, greetings. Has anyone responded to this post made several months ago? Let
us revisit it for the good of our profession. On July 13, 2019 Prof. TO
Ibia posted SSSN should set up a committee to look at this. This proposal
is motivated by the preceding concerns about the present and future of the Soil
and Soil Science in Nigeria.
2. Introduction
The Universities
and other institutions, offering Soil Science as a discipline have done so
according to their own designs. There is therefore no uniformity in and
regulation of the courses taught and their contents. The umbrella organization
of Soil Science, the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), has
prescribed what can be regarded as a model for the teaching of Soil Science. In
Nigeria, the National body of soil scientists, the Soil Science Society of
Nigeria (SSSN), has been unable to provide the leadership, the regulatory
authority and harmonize the courses taught in the discipline. Recently, the
Society has successfully achieved the establishment of the Nigeria Institute of
Soil Science (NISS) to regulate the practice of the profession. NISS can also
be saddled with standardizing the courses taught in the various institutions in
the country. In addition, SSSN through NISS should embark on a campaign through
the World Soil Day (WSD) to change the orientation and perceptions of Nigerians
about the soil of the land and Soil Science. The Society should design Soil Science
courses/subjects that can be taught at all levels of the educational systemto
facilitate the building of a soil preservation culture and conscience in the
hearts and minds of Nigerians.
3. Soil and Soil Science
Dokuchaev saw
that each kind of soil had a unique morphology resulting from the combination
of climate, living matter (plant and animals), earthly parent material,
topography and age of the land (the clorpt).
The soil was the product of evolution and changed over time. Soil is a complex
system closely linked with the other components of the environment, such as
atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. In the past decades, the
significance of environmental functions of soils have been outlined (see (3.)
below), which regards soil, the most important component of land, as the major
link in the interaction between the geological and biological cycles of
elements on Earth. Soil Science, on the other hand, is the application of
scientific principles to the study of soil as a natural body and as a medium
for plant growth. It essentially consists in the definition of the problem to
be studied, the proposition of a hypothesis, investigation with proven
methodologies or development of new ones, application of statistics to obtain
representative results that can be expressed in terms of statistical
probabilities of occurrence, and the report of the study.
4. Functions of Soil
The European
Union (EC, 2006) described soil functioning in terms of seven soil functions,
namely,
3.1
Biomass production, including
agriculture and forestry.
3.2
Storing, filtering and transforming
nutrients, substances and water.
3.3
Biodiversity pool, such as habitats,
species and genes.
3.4
Physical and cultural environment for
humans and human activities.
3.5
Source of raw material.
3.6
Acting as carbon pool.
3.7
Archive of geological and archeological
heritage.
These functions
can be expressed asecosystem services, supporting services andprovisioning services.Important
among the ecosystem services provisioned by soil are:
1.
Production of food, feed, fodder, and
fuel,
2.
Moderation of climate, water,
renewability and elemental cycling,
3.
Generation of energy and provision of
habitat for biota, and
4.
Being an archive for human and planetary
history.
We, in the Soil
Science Society of Nigeria and the global Soil Science Community, have been
involved over the years for the realization of both theseGlobal soil ecosystem
functions and the ecosystem services (provisioning,regulating and cultural)
through the teaching and practice of Soil Science at the local and
international levels. Today, the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) is
identifying these soil functions with specific Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), mainly, Nos. 2, 6, 7, 13 and 15 of the UN (UN, 2017) and with the
pertinent 12 principles of Green Chemistry (Anastas & Warner, 1998).
4
The
Soil Science Discipline
Soil Science, like
the material from which it derives its name, as a discipline is evolving
through its specializations. The historic outlook of the discipline is
different today than it was in the last decade and several decades ago, or in
the last century that will delight the pioneers of the science. The evolution
of the discipline is of course through the activities of the world’s 50,000
members of the profession assisted by the advances in science and technology,
through the development and continual refinement of methods and the development
of precision equipment.
5
Institutions
offering Soil Science
Soil Science has
been taught in tertiary institutions in Nigeria for decades. In some of these
institutions, it is taught as Agronomy or Plant and Soil Sciences. In others,
Soil Science is a full-fledged discipline with several specializations such as
Soil Physics, Soil Chemistry and Soil Biology, etc. The separation of Soil
Science from Crop Science was necessitated by the need to evolve a science of
the soil that would meet the needs of man and the environment in the present
millennium. However, the specializations and the courses leading to them are
fractious or dissimilar from one institution to another; specializations and
courses are designed as considered to meet the objectives of the programmes in
view. Even worse is that at the primary, secondary and colleges of education
and polytechnics soil science has no value or at best is taught as a component
of agricultural science and with nounified programme and regulation. Moreover,
some institutions may have modified their programmes but without reference to a
standard that could underlie the courses taught.
Now that there
is a regulatory body for the profession of Soil Science, the pattern should
change. The Soil Science Society of Nigeria has by the Edit establishing the
Nigeria Institute of Soil Science been mandated not only to standardize the
courses but also to regulate the practice of the science of the soil.
6
Standardization
in Soil Science
The
International Union of Soil Science (IUSS) is the global link to the world’s
over 50,000 soil scientists. The IUSS understands the needs of the profession
and frequently reviews the programme of courses to meet the global needs of life
in the environment and on the planet Earth.The Soil Science Society of Nigeria,
a member society of the IUSS, has attained the Golden Age without uniformity in
the courses taught and regulation of the profession to guide it in the task of
national development. The Society has since the proclamation of the
International Year of Soils (IYS) in 2015 and the annual World Soil Day (WSD) without
a clearly established basis for the programmes, without actually implementing
the fundamental principles of the IYS and WSD. This discourse is to awaken us
to our true calling and the presentiments of the IUSS for our national good.
The Soil Science
Society of Nigeria like its parent/global counterpart has as a mission to:
6.1
Serve and reinforce the global
community,
6.2
Promote soil science and all its
activities,
6.3
Engage with global and local
stakeholders (e.g., Global Soil Partnership, Inter-Government Technical Panel
on Soils, Global Soil Week, etc.),
6.4
Stimulate soil science initiatives
inside and outside the IUSS and SSSN, and
6.5
Improve communication with other
scientific disciplines, the policymakers and the general public.
The IUSS
achieves this mission through four divisions which are traditional but with
modifications to meet the dynamics of the profession and environment. The
divisions are:
1.
Soil in Space and Time. The
IUSS describes this as the what of soil science. It looks at
the SOIL and how it is formed, the extent of its global coverage, and the many
complex interactions with biosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and lithosphere.
The Division comprises six commissions:
1.1
Soil Morphology and Micromorphology,
1.2
Soil Geography,
1.3
Soil Genesis,
1.4
Soil Classification,
1.5
Pedometrics, and
1.6
Paleopedology.
2.
Soil Properties and Processes, is
the how
of soil science. It addresses the fundamental science of the discipline, and
understanding of fundamental processes. It has five commissions:
2.1
Soil Physics,
2.2
Soil Chemistry,
2.3
Soil Biology,
2.4
Soil Mineralogy, and
2.5
Soil Chemical, Physical and Biological
Interfacial Reactions.
3.
Soil Use and Management, is
the why
of soil science. It deals with the societal needs and wellbeing. It is the
application of the fundamental knowledge of soil science to address high
priority social, economic and environmental challenges of major societal and
scientific interests. It has five commissions:
3.1
Soil Evaluation and Land Use Planning,
3.2
Soil and Water Conservation (and
Management),
3.3
Soil Fertility and Plant Nutrition,
3.4
Soil Engineering and Technology, and
3.5
Soil Degradation Control, Remediation
and Reclamation.
4.
The Role of Soil in Sustaining Society
and Environment is the outreach and network of
soil science. It is more general and entails the transfer and outreach of the
knowledge base to address interdisciplinary issues and enhance the awareness
about the importance of soil science among other disciplines. It has five
commissions:
4.1
Soil and the Environment,
4.2
Soil, Food Security, and Human Health,
4.3
Soil and Land Use Change,
4.4
Soil Education and Public Awareness, and
4.5
History, Philosophy and Sociology of
Soil Science.
The SSSN has
adopted the above Divisions and some of the sub-divisions in the development of
courses taught in our institutions. These divisions and sub-divisions should
continue to form the basis for the creation of courses and regulation of the
degree programmes in our institutions. There is the need to adopt all the
sub-divisions to guide us to note deficiencies and create courses to facilitate
the teaching of soil science courses. The details of this can be worked out at
the committee level. Such a committee will find useful the NUC Benchmark and
the stipulations of the Soil Science Society of America. The specific (for Soil
Science) and general (for the National Education System) review of the Soil
Science curriculum will strengthen our position on the importance of Soil
Science as a separate discipline against the ill-informed and unwise decision
of the NUC to merge Soil and Crop Sciences.
7
Changing
the Perceptions about Soil and Soil Science
Over the years,
only Soil Scientists discuss soil, even as the soil of the land functions to
provide goods and services for humans and their environment. It is only when
the soil has been devastated by human activities and some natural event, when
the soil under their property has been taken away, that non-soil scientists and
the lay will express short-lived concerns. Most people do not even see the
soil, they see the land as a possession to be used and not to be used and
preserved. The consequence is the accelerated and devastating soil erosion and
loss of productivity occurring throughout the country. At the global level, the
attitude and behaviour of humans toward the soil, land and the environment
necessitated the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (UN, 2016) and
recently, the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (UN, 2017).
Changing the
perceptions of Nigerians about soil will be closely connected with the
activities of the International Community on Sustainable Development(SD)
through the 169 targets of the 17 SDGs. To us in Soil Science, the SDGs are
closely allied to the seven soil functions stated earlier. In this connection,
we have to reason globally to allow us to develop an interdisciplinary attitude
of seeing beyond the confines of the profession because we are not the only
users of the soil, the basis of all planetary life.
A potential way
of integrating others into the awareness of the importance of soil is to develop
an interdisciplinary soil subject/course that can be taught at all levels of
the educational system and to the soil-based disciplines such as chemistry,
physics, etc., that are largely extractive in their approaches to soil and
unconcerned about its sustainability.There is a need for structural changes in
the teaching of Soil Science.
The non-charlant
attitude to soil is exhibited by all other professions. For instance, the
lawyer decides cases about land titles but knows nothing or is uninterested
about the soil of the land, the resource that supports all life on the Planet.
The current posture of the International Community through the SDGs demands
that lawyers should also be educated to be deeply interested, know and
adjudicatein soil use, management and preservation against all activities that
endanger the soil.The Engineer and related disciplines are interested in soil
use and can modify it through excavation and or compaction to suit their
purposes, but care less about its conservation, management, preservation and
sustainability.The medical and allied professions can trace the origins of
certain diseases to the soil and warn of the dangers of cultivating certain
soils and eating crops grown thereon, but will not recommend how such soils can
be treated/managed to eliminate toxic elements. The list goes on.
Generally, soil
is regarded as dirt:an unclean substance, a corrupting influence, all
derogatory terms describing the soil of the land, a scares resource, even as it
not only constitute the material substance of our being and to which we must
return at the end of our mortal existence but also the source from which we
draw the material substances to sustain life while it lasts.
To change the perceptive
attitude of these different professions, Soil Scientists must next develop soil
subjects/courses that can be taught at the primary, secondary and other
tertiary levels to systematically develop awareness of the importance of soil
to humans, the environment and life on earthin Nigeria. This will facilitate the building
of a soil preservation culture and conscience. It will also not only
accumulate knowledge about the soil resources, but to educate them to preserve
it as an indispensable element for the life. We will then be developing a
transcendental education through which we will explain to every citizen why
soil is important to him/her, and how its loss affects us all, regardless of
the social class we belongto.
8.Conclusion
I think that the
concept and the entire programme of the International Decade of Soil and the
International Day of Soils are least understood. The review being sought will
expose us to all to the fundamentals of the activities of the IUSS as well as
strengthen us in the development and teaching of Soil Science. Moreover, the
foundation for changing the perception of Nigerians toward soil is education as
stipulated in the Pillar 2: Education, outreach and awareness of the Global Soil
Partnership (FAO, 2016), and the IUSS that has granted special relevance to the
educational issue in its International Decade of Soils Programme (IUSS, 2016).
This will allow not only Soil Scientists but also all Nigerians to fully
embrace the 17 SDGs and in particular, SDG 4:Ensure inclusive and equitable quality
education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, starting
in school age children, to mould their minds toward soil conservation,
management, preservation and sustainability in this Millennium. To achieve
these we need to structurally change the course of teaching Soil Science in
Nigeria through a review of the curriculum.
Thank You
Fellows and Members of the SSSN and NISS.
No comments:
Post a Comment