Soil biodiversity supports ecosystem services to achieve global sustainability

Elizabeth Bach, Nachusa Grasslands, The Nature Conservancy, Franklin Grove, IL, Kelly S Ramirez, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Tandra Fraser, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Charlottetown, PE, Canada and Diana Wall, Department of Biology & School of Global Environmental Sustainability, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

Soils are home to more than 25% of global biodiversity and support life on land and water, nutrient cycling and retention, food production, pollution remediation, and climate regulation. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that multiple sustainability goals can be simultaneously addressed when soil biota are centered in policy decisions, because the activity and interactions of soil organisms are intimately tied to multiple processes on which ecosystems and society rely. With soil biodiversity at the center of multiple globally relevant sustainability programs, we will be able to holistically advance the Sustainable Development Goals and post-2020 global biodiversity agenda.