The Global Soil Partnership (GSP) has released the fifth edition of its newsletter celebrating the first official UN World Soil Day, which was held on 5 December 2014 in more than 80 countries, and the launch of the International Year of Soils (IYS) 2015 with events held in Rome, Italy; New York, US; Bangkok, Thailand; and Santiago, Chile.
December 2014: The Global Soil Partnership (GSP) has released the fifth edition of its newsletter celebrating the first official UN World Soil Day, which was held on 5 December 2014 in more than 80 countries, and the launch of the International Year of Soils (IYS) 2015 with events held in Rome, Italy; New York, US; Bangkok, Thailand; and Santiago, Chile.
The Rome event, titled ‘Soils, a foundation for family farming,’ was opened by José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), who highlighted the contribution of healthy soils “to achieve our food security and nutrition goals, to fight climate change and to ensure overall sustainable development.” The New York event was attended by Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol of Thailand who emphasized the central role that soils play in our lives.
The GSP newsletter also highlights that the FAO Council updated the World Soil Charter during its December meeting, which is expected to motivate efforts to reverse trends in soil degradation through enhanced adoption of sustainable soil management. It also describes the activities of the Editorial Board Meeting of the Status of World Soil Resources Report, which met from 2-5 December 2014 to review progress on preparation of the report that will be launched during the IYS closing ceremony on 5 December 2015.
Furthermore, the newsletter describes progress made regarding regional soil partnerships, noting, for example, that members of the soil community from 12 Pacific countries met in Fiji on 13 October 2014 to establish the Pacific Soil Partnership, which is hosted by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).
In addition, the newsletter discusses the ongoing process to nominate GSP Focal Points, which will enhance communication with the GSP Secretariat and are expected to play a critical role in implementing GSP goals. Implementation of the IYS will be guided by an IYS Plan of Action and an IYS Steering Committee. [GSP Newsletter #5-December 2014] [IYS2015 Website]