Soil is, on a human timescale, a non-renewable resource : natural replenishment can take hundreds, or even thousands of years (Osman, 2014). Human activities (consumption, investment, operations) leads each year to some amount if it being consumed or damaged, and limiting this damage is essential to sustaining life on Earth. The land footprint is an inventory of soil degradation caused by human activities; it is a measurement tool which aims to let every public or private organisation understand its impact on soil health. It can be seen as analogous to the carbon footprint, but for living soils.

It aims to be a quantitative and replicable indicator based on existing data. Easily communicable, it can guide public policy and investor practices (in order to qualify the ‘risk’ associated with the most land-intensive activities), promote corporate social responsibility, and influence household choices.