Human beings have always felt the attraction of discovering and exploring new worlds. For decades, exploration of remote and exotic places on Earth captured the attention of generations. Today, exploration of the cosmos remains a powerful focus. But humans, in their eagerness to look far, forgot to look close.

About 400 million years ago, in the Silurian period, plants ventured to colonize the emerged lands. With them, a transformation of profound implications began on the surface of the planet. The desolate landscapes of rocky fragments and lifeless mineral formations of those geological times began to transform. Beneath its surface, the creation of a vast organism began, the fruit of life and creator of life, which gradually began to spread and interconnect the entire surface of the planet. In the superficial layer of the Earth, a kind of internal and hidden matrix began to form that was colonizing and changing the physiognomy of the planet forever. Over millions of years, the active collaboration between the mineral world, atmospheric forces, plants, microorganisms and animals created a living organism in which everyone participated.

A frontier of connection between the mineral and organic world was established in which its components contributed by exchanging information, food and energy. Something mobilized the common work of infinite species of microorganisms, fungi, lichens, algae, plants and animals. In this gigantic hidden organism everything was interconnected and working with mill metric precision in unperturbed cycles that have been tirelessly repeated since the beginning of terrestrial life and whose secret codes we barely understand.

Well, this living organism that embraces, interconnects and gives life to the planet is called the soil. It is a universe within another universe. A universe that we do not see but that is there and that is as unknown as it is essential for the continuity of life on the planet. But it is as everyday and familiar as it is ignored. Regardless of our indifference, their activity never stops. Soil is always tirelessly busy and bustling with activity with infinite chemical transformations, fights between organisms, biochemical battles, conflicts over available resources and collaboration and cooperation between very different species. All this occurs under a mandate that has not been revealed to us, unstoppable and without us realizing it, under our feet.

This hidden universe is interconnected throughout the land emerged in networks of fungal mycelia, roots, mycorrhizae, humus macromolecules, chemical transmitters, and electrochemical signals, which resemble a neural network.

Its design is brilliantly simple and functional. Weathered rock fragments provide the anchorage and mechanical support for plant growth. But it is not just physical roots; a microcosm is created on the border between the mineral and organic world through fascinating transformations of living tissues that unite clay particles with humic molecules. A structure, part mineral and part organic, is created, which ensures the vital functions of the soil. It enables plant roots to absorb moisture retained in the micropores, that the plants acquire the nutrients from the soil solution, that it maintains its stability and resilience to natural and anthropogenic impacts and that it can provide benefits and ecosystem services to nature in general and to human beings in particular.

The roots, the humic compounds, the micropores, the mineral elements and the microorganisms, are like the modules of a fabulous biological reactor that is the basis for the continuity of life on the planet. This reactor recycles biological compounds and connects all the biomes on earth, becoming a great organism of enormous dimensions that permanently renews the basic elements of life.

The planet's surface has given rise to very different types of soils due to its climatic and geological variations. Thus, we have soils of tundra, taiga, steppes, savannahs, temperate forests, jungles, soils of humid zones, semi-arid soils and even desert soils. Each of them has different characteristics and properties, to which different types of plants adapt to create the basis of the planet's biodiversity. In fact, the soil constitutes the richest zone of biodiversity on Earth. In one gram of soil there can be more microorganisms than drops of water in the Mediterranean Sea!

The underground universe that represents the ground also has the power to influence transcendental aspects that occur on the planet's surface. Among others, these include food production, territorial stability and resilience, freshwater regulation, climate regulation, chemical composition of the atmosphere and biodiversity. A separate chapter would include the cultural, affective and psychological aspects linked to human perception of the environment and the landscape, at the root of which is the soil.

However, and also occurring without receiving the necessary attention, this natural component essential for the functioning of the planet, is currently seriously threatened. Probably one of the most serious consequences of the global warming trend is the impact on desertification and soil degradation processes of the planet's arid zones and, in turn, the feedback of these processes on climate change. The arid and semi-arid zones of the planet cover approximately 44% of the Earth’s land surface and in them live about 2500 million people, many of them in precarious subsistence conditions. We find a perverse spiral that affects the stability, functionality and productivity of almost half the planet, and involves environmental security problems (reduced harvests, famines, social and political instability, forced migration, conflicts and wars) and significant damage and socioeconomic consequences. These are all due to the disruption of the buffering role of the soil in the face of extreme climatic phenomena (droughts, torrential rains, floods, landslides, forest fires and heat-waves).

The natural heritage accumulated over millions of years that shapes the identity, the support of the landscape and the means of production of 90% of the food we consume, is in danger, without us being aware of it. Soil is a living memory of Earth's history. He has been the faithful companion of human society who keeps the memories of the human adventure on the planet. Today, 17 June, the United Nations reminds us of our age-old connection to the Earth and our responsibility to present and future generations. It is time to improve our perception and accelerate solutions. It will cost us dearly if we don't!

Want to know more about Desertification? (reference from United Nations website https://www.un.org/en/observances/desertification-day/background)

Desertification is a phenomenon that ranks among the greatest environmental challenges of our time. As one of global issues, desertification is with serious implications worldwide for biodiversity, eco-safety, poverty eradication, socio-economic stability and sustainable development.

The issue of desertification is not new though — it played a significant role in human history, contributing to the collapse of several large empires, and the displacement of local populations. But today, the pace of arable land degradation is estimated at 30 to 35 times the historical rate.

Some two billion people depend on ecosystems in dry land areas, 90% of whom live in developing countries. A downward spiral is created in many underdeveloped countries, where overpopulation causes pressure to exploit drylands for farming. These marginally productive regions are overgrazed, the land is exhausted and groundwater is overdrafted.

Some actions could help to reduce desertification:

Reforestation and tree regeneration.

Water management — saving, reuse of treated water, rainwater harvesting, desalination, or direct use of seawater for salt-loving plants.

Buttressing the soil through the use of sand fences, shelter belts, woodlots and windbreaks.

Enrichment and hyper-fertilizing of soil through planting.

Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), enabling native sprouting tree growth through selective pruning of shrub shoots. The residue from pruned tress can be used to provide mulching for fields thus increasing soil water retention and reducing evaporation.

Towards sustainable development thanks to UNCCD

Desertification, along with climate change and the loss of biodiversity, were identified as the greatest challenges to sustainable development during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

Two years later, in 1994, the General Assembly established the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management, and declared 17 June "World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought" by its resolution A/RES/49/115.

Later on, in 2007, the UN General Assembly declared 2010-2020 the United Nations Decade for Deserts and the fight against Desertification to mobilize global action to fight land degradation, led again by the UNCCD Secretariat.

UNCCD's 197 parties (169 affected by desertification) work together to maintain and restore land and soil productivity, and to mitigate the effects of drought in drylands — the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.