VIRTUAL EVENT. Global Soil Partnership (GSOBI21).

19 - 22 April 2021. VIRTUAL EVENT. Global Soil Partnership (GSOBI21).
This event combines policy and science to shed a light on soil biodiversity as a nature-based solution to many of today's global challenges. The symposium enabled high level attendees, scientists, businesses, partners and panelists to engage in fruitful discussions and gain reliable knowledge on soil biodiversity.

The Symposium brought together more than 5000 participants from more than 160 countries with representatives from governments, scientists and practitioners working in related fields, NGOs, civil society, indigenous peoples, local communities, and land users. Furthermore, the symposium drew special attention to the private sector's work on sustainable agriculture and technology development related to soil.

Soils are one of the main global reservoirs of biodiversity. They host more than 25 percent of the world's supply of this valued resource from where 95 percent of the food we eat is produced. In addition, more than 40 percent of living organisms in terrestrial ecosystems are connected with soils during their life cycle.

At the closing session, Ronald Vargas, FAO Soil Scientist and Secretary of the Global Soil Partnership, presented the conclusions of the symposium and the way forward informing that the outcome document "Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity" will highlight the importance of soil biodiversity not only for food production, but for enhancing the benefits to all. The document will include biodiversity-based solutions for global challenges, human well-being, health and nutritional food and new medicinal discoveries, including the discovery of new antibiotics.

Keynote spokespersons at the Symposium included FAO Director-General QU Dongyu; Luis Renato Alvarado Rivera, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica; Tang Renjian, Minister for Agricultu re and Rural Affairs of the People's Republic of China (via video message); Virginijus Sinkevicius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries of the European Union; Hisham Mohamed Badr, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt, speaking on behalf of the current COP Presidency held by the Arab Republic of Egypt; Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification;  Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity; Diana Wall, School of Global Environmental Sustainability - Colorado State University, USA; Wim H. van der Putten, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, the Netherlands; Daphne Miller, Department of Family Medicine, University of California, USA; and Felipe Pasini, farmer and journalist from Brazil and others.

A total of 21 renowned speakers, focusing on how policy and scientific evidence can be translated into concrete actions to reduce soil biodiversity loss, stimulated the eight hours of plenary sessions. Furthermore, six parallel sessions focussed on the state of knowledge on soil biodiversity through 96 presentations and interactive discussions. The proceedings of the Symposium containing all the scientific papers presented both orally and in poster format during the Symposium will be published.

Resources

Report: State of knowledge on Soil Biodiversity - Status, Challenges and Potentialities: 

There is increasing attention on the importance of biodiversity for food security and nutrition, especially above-ground biodiversity such as plants and animals. However, less attention is being paid to the biodiversity beneath our feet, soil biodiversity, which drives many processes that produce food or purify soil and water.

• The summary for policy makers presents the key findings of the main report and is the result of an inclusive process involving more than 300 scientists from around the world under the auspices of the FAO’s Global Soil Partnership and its Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative and the European Commission.
• The summary for policy makers presents concisely the state of knowledge on soil biodiversity, the threats to it and the solutions that soil biodiversity can provide to problems in different fields. This report is a valuable contribution to raising awareness of the importance of soil biodiversity and highlighting its role in finding solutions to today's global threats.
• Main report : ​FAO, ITPS, GSBI, SCBD, and EC (2020). State of knowledge of soil biodiversity – Status, challenges and potentialities, Summary for policymakers. Rome, FAO. 40pp
• Summary for policy makers
• The State of Knowledge of Soil Biodiversity. Enter a hidden world
• Global Soil Partnership
• Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity
• World Soil Day 2020 Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity
• FAO Soils Portal

FAO (2021) The magical world of soil biodiversity. A collection of 10 children's stories from around the world. 168 pp. 

In the framework of World Soil Day 2020, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), and the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) launched a children's book contest on Soil Biodiversity with the motto "Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity". The book contest on soil biodiversity has given visibility to the importance of soil organisms and raised awareness on the urgency of protecting soil biodiversity. The soil biodiversity book competition highlights the importance of soil organisms and raises awareness of the urgent need to protect soil biodiversity among a young audience (children aged 6-11 years). This collection of 10 stories includes the best entries received from a total of 80 books spanning over 60 countries.

Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas

The JRC and the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (GSBI) publish the first-ever Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas that maps the soil biodiversity of the entire planet. This unique Atlas pays tribute to soil – the silent engine that keeps the planet alive – by providing a detailed analysis of soil organisms and the threats to soil biodiversity at global scale. The Atlas was launched by the JRC and GSBI at the 2nd UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) in Nairobi on 25 May 2016.

SOILBOOK 

This book is a digital, constantly growing book of soils for everyone interested in soils and in raising awareness for the variety and endangerd status of soils. 
Via SOILBOOK, registered users are able to upload new chapters to the book of soils by documenting soil profiles anytime and everywhere as well as to browse through the contributions of other users.