How to enhance soil security and assess soil condition and health for better implementation and efficiency

The assessment of soil security represents one of the most comprehensive approaches to understanding and managing soil resources in the 21st century. Building on the soil security framework developed by McBratney and colleagues, this paper focuses on enhancing the efficiency and operationalisation of assessments across the five dimensions of soil security, encompassing 115 individual evaluation activities. Key methodological approaches that support more efficient implementation are synthesised, with particular emphasis on the integration of advanced technologies, including soil spectroscopy, digital soil mapping, remote sensing, and emerging applications of large language models in policy analysis. The pedogenon-based reference system is presented as a foundation for standardising assessments and enabling systematic comparison between natural and human-modified soil systems. Practical considerations, methodological challenges, and sources of uncertainty associated with applying the framework are examined, including the identification of reference conditions in human-impacted landscapes. Strategies are identified to improve the efficiency, consistency, and applicability of soil security and soil condition/health assessments in both research and policy contexts.