Distinguishing Between Capability and Condition

Abstract

Soil security is a concept that will make it possible to understand soil and its role in delivering ecosystem services and is used to quantify the soil resource. Of the five dimensions, capability and condition focus on the biophysical aspects of soil, and there is the potential to develop a data set of indicators to assess these two dimensions. The timescales of change and the ability to manage soils described by these dimensions will affect the choice of soil properties as indicators. Once established these indicators will be useful to users, managers and regulators of soil and the ongoing monitoring of changes in the soil's condition to avoid undesirable outcomes. This will involve understanding the soil's resilience to change both from a biophysical and socio-economic interpretation, i.e. focusing on the capability and its condition, respectively.