25 Euro Austria Niobium 2024

25 Euro Austria Nobium 2024 - Edaphon

The 2024 silver niobium coin celebrates the little-known world beneath our feet, highlighting the Edaphon, an ecosystem as rich and diverse as a rainforest. Essential to our survival, the Edaphon is made up of multiple organisms living in the soil, forming a crucial foundation for our future and present existence.

This all-encompassing term refers to all living things in the soil, a chaotic but essential universe of creatures that facilitate regeneration and the birth of new life. Invisible to the naked eye, an army of micro-organisms, accompanied by ants, beetles and earthworms, works tirelessly. These organisms break down dead organic matter to form a rich humus that sustains plant life. Together, bacteria, fungi, plants and animals weave a complex structure, susceptible to rapid deterioration under the impact of intensive farming practices.

The impact of industrialization on Edaphon has been profoundly negative, resulting in pollution, the use of chemical fertilizers, monocultures and soil compaction, thus reducing its fertility. Every day in Austria, 11.5 hectares of soil are made impermeable, limiting its capacity to filter water and pollutants, and roughly half of this surface is built on.

Climate change also poses a major risk: with warming, humus depletion and soil drying are likely, increasing the risk of erosion during intense rainfall. Without preventive action, soil risks becoming an increasingly scarce resource.

The obverse of the coin illustrates the five elements influencing soil formation: weather, minerals, climate, soil organisms (represented in the niobium core) and relief (on the silver ring). The center shows the roots of a plant with leaves extending into the silver ring. The reverse displays an artistic representation of soil fauna: a mole, earthworm, snail and ant are judiciously placed around the central core, which features a leaf at the top and a trio of crucial organisms at the bottom: fungal mycelium, beetle and earthworm.

Silver/nobiummetal

65,000copies printed