FAO Global Soil Partnership launched

September 8, 2011

Representatives of the British Society of Soil Science attended the launch of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) at the FAO headquarters, Rome on 7 - 9^th September 2011. 

Dr Helaina Black, President of the British Society of Soil Science offered support to the GSP in engaging with our national soil science researchers, practioners and policy-makers who work in areas relevant to the GSP pillars of action.

She said "We only need to look to global initiatives in biodiversity conservation, climate change and water management to see that the soil science community needs an effective single voice to ensure that soil issues are taken seriously at the international policy negotiating table when different agendas are being addressed.  Thus, we think an Intergovernmental organisation focussed on soil is vital, and the British Society of Soil Science offers its support to the GSP in fulfilling this role. In this context we would support a straightforward focus on soils. Specifically using the term land alongside soil only serves to dilute the message that we wish the GSP to communicate."

In introducing the partnership FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf warned that pressure on the world's soil resources and land degradation are threatening global food security. He called for a renewed international effort to assure sufficient fertile and healthy soils today and for future generations.

The pressures for land dictate that we must address the fact that current markets favour bringing into use those soils which provide the greatest economic return over short time scales without due consideration of the longer term costs of degrading these non-renewable soil resources.  Many of the problems we face today have occurred because this was not properly considered in past land use and natural resource use planning. We must learn from the past and not make the same mistakes again.

Further information on the Global Soil Partnership can be found at http://www.fao.org/landandwater