Advancing the intersection of soil and well-being systems science

Abstract

Innovation for soil research can advance multidimensional outcomes for production and environmental quality through consideration of human well-being components. Integrating components from social and soil sciences builds the capacity to foster research and innovations that promote human well-being in conjunction with soil health. We propose The Integrated Soil Well-being Framework to understand the linkages between individual and social well-being related to soil science research and innovation. To facilitate transformative research, we present lines of inquiry of human dimensions research that may support well-being outcomes of soil research and innovation. We then present opportunities in the area of human dimensions of soil science to innovate ways of transformative research that can integrate well-being and soil health: recognizing and fostering a universe of soil knowledge, enabling soil connectivity to increase well-being, and evaluating capability. Finally, we propose three steps to promote soil and well-being integration: multi-disciplinary soil science training, a normative change in the identity of a soil scientist, and diverse methodologies. We aim to create a broader dialogue and open the conversation between scholars from various disciplines and methods studying soils to formulate research agendas with the advancement of human well-being for soil security.