5. Conclusions and outlook

There is no longer any doubt that the functions and services provided by forest soils are multiple and essential to the well-being of our society. This is all the more true in the context of a changing climate, where the atmospheric carbon storage potential of forest ecosystems, in both biomass and soil, is a major mitigation issue. However, increasing pressure on often-fragile forest soils has led to significant, even irreversible, degradation. The state of forest soils is alarming, and the functions and services they provide are being affected. These massive degradations, such as loss of chemical fertility and biodiversity, soil destructuring (compaction, loss of structural stability) and even soil loss through erosion, are mainly due to inappropriate silvicultural practices. And yet, in most cases, these degradations could be avoided if soil specificities were better considered upstream...