Global Soil Partnership

Contributions to the development of the Global Soil Organic Carbon map

FAO member countries and all GSP partners are invited to support and contribute to the development of the Global Soil Organic Carbon map (GSOC map) that will be released by the end of 2017.

22/09/2016

This activity was agreed during the 4th Session of the GSP Plenary Assembly held in May 2016 in Rome, as part of the 2016-2017 work plan for the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS) which will support the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) process in cooperation with and as requested by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and its Science Policy Interface (SPI).

The GSOC map will be compiled using a distributed approach which will strongly rely on country inputs to build a global map consisting of national soil organic carbon (SOC) maps. To this end, countries are invited to develop national SOC maps according to predetermined specifications. The development of the Global Soil Organic Carbon map (GSOC) will help countries to develop national baselines for soil carbon in support of SDGs and assessments related to the effects of climate change.

GSP Guidelines for sharing national data/information to compile a Global Soil Organic Carbon map (GSOC)