5^th December 2018 - The winner of the Glinka World Soil Prize is Rattan Lal, Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science, Director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at Ohio State University, US. With a career spanning over 50-years and across six continents, he is considered one of the most prominent soil scientists globally. Listed among the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds (2015 and 2016) and among the top one per cent of all researchers in agriculture, he changed the way we view sustainable soil management (SSM) with a focus on soil organic carbon (SOC), restoration and improvement of soil structure and physical/hydrological properties to global food security.

Rattan Lal has also been a leading researcher on carbon sequestration in agricultural soils, presenting a global perspective on the interaction between soil and global carbon flows. His continuous efforts have led to the eco-intensification of agricultural systems, following a soil-centric approach. The latter ensures long-term sustainability of agroecosystems by reconciling the need for increasing agronomic production with the necessity to improve the environment. Indeed, restoring soil health in densely populated regions (i.e., Indo-Gangetic Plains, West African Sahel, Horn of Africa, the Caribbean, North China Plains) is essential to enhancing agronomic production, improving nutritional value of the farm produce (he observed that soil degradation exacerbates the problem of human malnutrition), and restoring the environment.

With more than 2343 research publications, 22 books, 72 edited/co-edited books to his credit, and 919 journal articles, he is a leading voice on issues related to climate change and soil carbon, soil degradation and restoration, food security, environmental quality and sustainability. He has got an H index - a criterion for quantifying the fruitfulness and scientific impact of an author – of 139 and over 88,600 citations. During his career he had the honour to preside many professional societies, among which the International Union of Soil Science (IUSS), the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), the International Soil Tillage Research Organization (ISTRO), the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation (WASWC) and has been involved in different policy interfaces i.e. the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); the Science-Policy Interface of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (SPI – UNCCD); the Global Soil Week (GSW); the United Nations University Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources (UNU-FLORES); Soil Resolution 440 (2008). As part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 and many internationally recognized awards. He took part in the Nobel Conference Presentation 2018 with his research on conservation tillage techniques for restoring soil carbon over years and turning them into carbon sink to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

While Lal’s research is world-renowned, he is also a teacher and mentor. Since 1987 He has mentored over 300 students including post-docs, visiting scholars, research scientists, and graduate students. And it is to young deserving students and researchers that Prof. Lal was thinking when he made the important decision to donate the Prize (a USD 15,000 check) to an endowment in support of research and education at the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center of the Ohio State University. Citing C. E. Kellogg, USDA ‘Essentially all life depends upon the soil - There can be no life without soil and no soil without life; they have evolved together’ on 5 December Dr. Lal addressed an inspiring speech on the topic of soil pollution in line with World Soil Day theme of the year ‘Be the Solution to Soil pollution’ on the occasion of the award ceremony and stated that he was honored to receive the Glinka World Soil Prize.

More about the Prize

The prize is meant to encourage all stakeholders and soil practitioners to engage in field-oriented work, with direct contributions to the preservation of the environment, food security and poverty alleviation. This year, Global Soil Partners could have nominated candidates until the end September.  15 candidatures were compliant with the specified criteria and were consequently shortlisted for the prize.  The World Soil Prize Selection Committee, composed of the GSP Secretariat, the Chair of the Intergovernmental Technical Panel of Soils, the Global Soil Partnership Plenary Assembly, the nine Regional and Sub-regional Soil Partnerships, elected, by a large majority, Professor Lal, for his brilliant life-long career. The granting of the Prize to Professor Lal contributed in a timely manner to raise awareness amongst the scientific community, governments, proactive policy makers and the general public about possible solutions to tackle acute national and local problems of soil degradation.