A short portrait of Commission VI Soil Protection and Technology

The commission VI of the German Soil Science Society (DBG) unifies  by vote of the society members in September 2009 the former commissions VI (soil technology) and VIII (soil conservation) It is oriented to applied science and tries to transfer the new scientific knowledge obtained in the fundamental oriented commissions into practice. Questions of soil use and soil treatment are topics of the commission.

The main focus of commission VI is the conservation and protection of soils and the preservation of their multiple functions in ecosystems and technological questions concerning the anthropogenic use of soils and the remediation of degraded soil.

The main task is to minimize risks and to remediate damages from anthropogenic soil use aiming at a sustainable and multifunctional land use. The topics cover questions of protection and conservation of soils and their characters and functions, the improvement and remediation of degraded and/or contaminated soils, the development and planning of recultivation measures, and the risk assessment and planning of land use and land management options with special emphasis on protection of soil and water resources.

The activities of commission  VI require the integration of fundamental research from soil physics, soil chemistry, soil biology and soil mineralogy  and are closely related to soil fertility, plant nutrition, soil classification, mapping and soils in education and society.

Commission VI is organizing workshops, seminar a.o., also in conjunction with the other commissions of the German Soil Science Society, to discuss current research and to identify future tasks and challenges in the field of soil conservation and soil technology.