Parliamentary event highlights the importance of soil health

Professor Karen Johnson from our Engineering department helped to organise the event, which was hosted by Dr Roz Savage MP. 

Karen is a leader in the field of soil-literacy and health, and Head of the Durham SMART Soils Lab. 

The event brought together experts to discuss how soil-centric approaches could help achieve key Government priorities in public health, housing, infrastructure, education and the environment. 

Soil destruction 

The discussions highlighted the importance of soil to all areas of life. 

Soil is a living material, home to over 50% of all life forms on our planet. It takes hundreds of years to form, and stores more carbon than all the forests, vegetation and atmosphere combined. 

Healthy soils not only support food production but also provide ‘ecosystem services’ such as flood water management and remediation of toxic wastes. 

Yet soil is largely unprotected. Agricultural soils are eroding rapidly due to unsympathetic farm practices. Soils from construction projects make up over a third of all landfill, where they break down, releasing substantial greenhouse gas emissions. 

Time for change 

Karen and Roz, alongside partners from the Sustainable Soils Alliance and the Fungi Foundation, argue it is time for change. 

The roundtable event explored how soil-focused approaches across Government departments could provide a genuine win-win’ solution, of protecting soils (and hence food security), whilst preserving natural resources, and accelerating progress on a wide range of other Government priorities. 

The event showed how soil could provide a new foundation on which to progress the Climate and Nature Bill, brought to Parliament by Dr Savage MP. 

Understanding soil  

Led by Karen, Durham’s SMART Soils Lab is researching the soil microbiome. This microbiome underpins planetary health, much like the gut microbiome supports human health. The SMART Soils Lab is also supporting initiatives for ‘Soil Literacy’, to help educate others on the value of soil, and how to protect and safeguard it. 

Find out more:  

• Discover more about Professor Karen Johnson’s work. 

• Find out more about the Durham SMART Soils Lab. 

• The event was hosted by Dr Roz Savage MP. 

• Alongside Professor Karen Johnson, the event was also organised by the Sustainable Soils Alliance. It was Chaired by Dr Merlin Sheldrake of the Fungi Foundation. 

• Our Department of Engineering is ranked fourth in the UK in the Complete University Guide 2025.

  Visit our Engineering webpages for more information on our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.   

 Image details: 

Image of discussions during the roundtable event. In the image, from left to right, are Claire Mackenzie (Producer: ‘Six inches of Soil’), Ellen Fay (Sustainable Soils Alliance), Dr Roz Savage MP (host), Dr Merlin Sheldrake (Chair; Fungi Foundation), Prof Karen Johnson (SMART Soils Lab, Durham University), and Prof Aki Sinkkonen and Dr Marja Roslund (both of the Natural Resources Institute (LUKE), Finland).