Soil is defined as the top layer of the earth’s crust. It is formed by mineral particles, organic matter, water, air and living organisms. It is in fact an extremely complex, variable and living medium. As soil formation is an extremely slow process, soil can be considered essentially as a non-renewable resource. The interface between the earth, the air and the water soil performs many vital functions: food and other biomass production, storage, filtration and transformation of many substances including water, carbon, nitrogen. Soil has a role as a habitat and gene pool, serves as a platform for human activities, landscape and heritage and acts as a provider of raw materials. It contains around twice the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and three times the amount to be found in vegetation. These functions are worthy of protection because of their socio-economic as well as environmental importance.