Soil resilience

[3] It is the active factors in soil formation that vary so as to constitute an environmental change or shock.

Over time, variations have been significant: If soil were not resilient, then in the face of past influences it would not be in any condition to support the natural and commercial services that we expect of it currently.

[5] Barrow (1991) claims that despite decades of humans talking of an impending environmental crisis, including the breaking point of our soils' fertility, threats to the environment have continued to grow faster than the willingness to control them.

Even with good intentions and best farming practices, still we are caught out by drought and wet periods, which cause unsustainable degradation.

The resilience of the soil in terms of human expectations and time frames will depend on its ability to recover to an equilibrium state once improved practices have been extensively applied.