This paper reviews the soil conservation policies (SCP) in the global community and suggests the improved options in SCP in Korea. Soil Environment Conservation Act in Korea states soil is a valuable natural resource and it's value should be enhanced to provide the benefits that soil ecosystem can offer to people. However, SCP in Korea limits its application to not only the scope of soil environment but also the issues on soil pollution. The SCPs in the advanced countries have shifted their scopes from soil environment to soil ecosystem, put emphasis on the conservation of soil health rather than soil quality, and set the goals to optimize the soil ecosystem services to people while minimizing the soil threats. In this context, the soil security initiative was recently proposed to accomplish this goal while employing the nexus concept to bridge the soil ecosystem services with water, atmosphere, climate and biodiversity. Therefore, the key policies in soil conservation in Korea should expand the scope from soil environment to soil ecosystem, focus on soil health management, and develop the holistic governance among diverse stakeholder to maximize the soil ecosystem services. Soil ecosystem should be secured by national soil policies for human health.

Keywords: Soil conservation policy;Soil ecosystem conservation;Soil functions;Soil health;Soil security;