A gardener from Amsterdam, Rens Goede, began his 30,000-km bicycle trek from London to Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore city on Wednesday as part of a campaign to raise awareness about soil degradation. This campaign will see him travel across 30 countries that will last an estimated two years.

"I just decided I can do more. I love to cycle, so I thought: do something crazy, get on the (bi)cycle and just do it," he told Reuters.

"If we don't act now, (soil) will degrade further and future generations will suffer big-time; we should prevent that. We are the first generation... Who can turn this situation around," the 31-year-old added.

Goede's campaign mirrors that of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, who launched the "Save Soil" campaign last year on a motorbike. Sadhguru through his campaign aims to increase the organic content in soil to a minimum of 3-6 percent across all nations.

"Save Soil – a Global Movement to invoke a conscious approach to soil and planet in all. One of the main objectives of the movement is to show governments across the world that their citizens want policies that revitalise ecology and soil," the save soil website says.

Sadguru also resides in Coimbatore.

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The movement is backed by the likes of the World Food Programme. The body says that it aims "to address the global soil degradation crisis and support governments in implementing concrete policy changes for soil health".

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), soil erosion could lead to a 10 percent loss in global crop production by 2050.

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-With inputs from Reuters

First Published:Mar 23, 2023 10:25 AM IST