NENA Soil Partnership Conference

FAO with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture of Jordan organize the “NENA Soil Partnership Conference”

Participants: representatives from Near East-North Africa national soil institutions. FAO funded their participation.

Background

The Global Soil Partnership (GSP) was established by FAO Council in December 2012 with the premise that the maintenance of healthy soils required for feeding the growing population of the world and meeting their huge needs for biomass (energy), fiber, fodder, and other products could only be ensured through a strong partnership-based initiative. GSP aims to improve governance of the limited soil resources of the planet in order to guarantee healthy and productive soils for a food secure world, as well as support other essential ecosystem services.

Its main governance mechanisms are the annual Plenary Assembly (PA) and the I Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS). In the concert of similar international panels , the ITPS should be the authoritative technical voice on global soil issues.The GSP architecture is complemented by a network of Regional Soil Partnerships (RSPs) which should facilitate feedback from, and outreach to various geographical areas. In particular, the RSPs should nurture interactive consultative processes involving national soils entities and relevant regional institutions, for the discussion inter alia of regional priorities in terms of soil issues and possible solutions.

In 2012, FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture of Jordan agreed to launch the Global Soil Partnership in the region and facilitate the development of the NENA Soil Information System jointly with partners. Significant results have been achieved since then, though an institutionalization of this partnership is needed. To this end, FAO with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture of Jordan decided to organize the “NENA Soil Partnership Conference”.

Objectives

The conference objectives are:

a) to stocktaking on the status, needs and priorities for promoting sustainable soil management in the region;

b) to institutionalize the NENA Soil Partnership by setting its secretariat and steering committee;

c) to present the results and the gaps of the NENA Soil Information System Phase I; and

d) to jointly define a roadmap for the implementation of actions at the NENA Soil Partnership.