"Establish soil carbon as a measure of global sustainability"

This headline was the 3rd recommendation made in a submission by the United States Studies Centre and the University of Sydney to the recent UN Rio+20 gathering. The first and second refer to the global soils crisis - known as "Soil Security".  This follows closely on the United Nations Environment Programme Yearbook 2012 recognising the importance of increasing and maintaining  soil carbon for the reversal of soil degradation.