Saturday (5th December) marks World Soils Day. The international day, coordinated by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), is of special importance this year, as the UN has named 2015 its International Year of Soil.

Soils are home to at least a quarter of all life on Earth, and, in addition to providing a medium for growing food crops, healthy soils are essential for securing supplies of clean water, protecting plant health and providing resilience to floods and droughts. Soils are also the largest terrestrial (land-based) carbon sink, locking up 2,500 gigatons of carbon, so their preservation forms part of the fight against climate change.

On its international day, FAO hopes to draw attention to the plight of soils, which are facing degradation at alarming rates across the world.

Earlier this week, experts from the University of Sheffield told delegates at the COP21 climate talks in Paris that the world has lost a third of its arable soils in the past 40 years, and yet there is virtually no legal protection for soils in the EU, or other global regions.

Organic food and farming charity the Soil Association has teamed up with Aardman Animations (creators of Wallace & Gromit) to produce a video to mark the day. The animated short explains the importance of soil, and the Association’s organic approach for an audience of consumers.