June 2014: Seeking to increase the public and scientific understanding of soil science, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released the third edition of the ‘World Reference Base for Soil Resources.’

The reference base provides an international soil classification system for naming soil and creating map legends, updating the second edition, which was released in 2006. The reference outlines general rules for classifying soils, including diagnostic horizons, properties and materials. It provides a key for identifying soil groups and definitions. [Publication: World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014]