The Deputy Prime Minister for Climate Policy and Minister of Environment and Water Borislav Sandov joined an international campaign to raise awareness and change attitudes towards soil protection on the planet. On Tuesday, he met with Indian spiritual leader Sadhguru, the initiator of the Save Soil movement, and together the two called for the protection of the planet’s soils.

“Soil sustains life on our planet, but, alas, it is the most underestimated landscape component, we know very little and do not care enough about it. The soil is this common largest organism that feeds us. But due to human activities, a big percentage degrades, the humus horizon decreases and this is a challenge for generations to come. Responsible behavior requires that we protect it by creating opportunities to increase the humus layer. That is why we cannot leave soil to recover on its own,” said Minister Borislav Sandov. He praised Sadhguru for the “inspiring campaign” and expressed hope that they would spread this knowledge together.

Minister Borislav Sandov reminded that Bulgaria has a great soil diversity, but in our country, just like in other countries, we have caused processes of degradation and reduction of the humus percentage in the soil - mainly due to various agricultural practices. “The EU envisages measures, but Sadguru’s message is also important – i.e. to encourage farmers to protect the soil,” he added. It is important for farmers to know that increasing the biological element in the soil will contribute to greater fertility because it reduces the need for fertilization and spraying. According to the Minister, it is necessary to introduce a standard of at least 3% humus in the soil to preserve it productive for the future.

“Soil is becoming a desert and biodiversity loss is everywhere,” Sadguru warned. He confirmed that the problems are identical all over the world, because industrial farming poses the same challenges, although the use of pesticides varies from country to country.

The Ministry of Environment and Water is responsible for soil protection and partners with the Nikola Pushkarov Institute of Soil Science, Agrotechnology and Plant Protection. The challenge for the country is to implement the national strategy for soil protection at the local level in the municipalities.

According to the Save Soil movement, 52% of the world’s soil is already in poor condition. At current rates, 90% will be of low ingredient indicators by 2050. Half of the planet’s topsoil has been lost in the last 150 years - so we lose one decare of soil every second. According to forecasts, the decline in food production will be over 40% in 20 years.

Dedicated to the cause of soil protection, Sadguru has embarked on a motorcycle trip through Europe and Asia. In the name of this cause, he left London a month ago, will travel 30,000 km through 25 countries in Europe, the Middle East and will complete his trip in India. The spiritual leader is in Bulgaria from April 18 to 20 on his way from Budapest to Bucharest.

You can see more about the campaign of the movement “Save soil”, the problem of soil destruction and the efforts by people around the world, the trip, the visit and program of Sadhguru in Bulgaria at: https://consciousplanet.org/bg  and https://events.savesoil.cc/?program=Save%20Soil&category=Europe