Join the  “Greening the future” photo challenge, make a #StopSoilErosion pledge and share it on social media by 30 November 2019!

In the framework of the World Soil Day 2019, the FAO Global Soil Partnership would like to challenge children, teens, young people, and adults worldwide to cover the soil and take a step to #StopSoilErosion.

Planting local species is a fun and easy way to help the soil, fight erosion and raise awareness for WSD. 

Download and print out the flyer and the pledge card (on the back cover): Greening the future photo challenge's flyer

5 December 2019 is just around the corner! 

GET INVOLVED! and USE THE WSD CAMPAIGN MATERIAL

Check this space often because we will keep producing material in new languages until WSD on 5 December.

Nowadays, land and soil degradation are recognized as one of the major global challenges threatening our planet.  There are many different human threats and pressures affecting soil resources in Eurasia, threatening food security in the region and having a major impact on climate change due to the presence of carbon-rich soils in many of these countries that are suffering unsustainable management, thus releasing CO₂ into the atmosphere. The Eurasian region is characterized by large areas devoted to agriculture, which has a great impact on soil health. In many countries, irrigation with low-quality water has produced secondary salinization; the use of heavy machinery has led to severe compaction of otherwise highly fertile soils; ploughing often in favour of slopes is causing severe soil erosion processes; practices involving leaving the soil surface bare in regions highly susceptible to wind erosion; and the application of agrochemicals to try to curb this loss of fertility, often in inadequate quantities and at inadequate intervals has led to a worrying loss of this valuable resource.

Additionally, the lack of updated research in the field of soil erosion, absence of stable soil monitoring systems as well as complicated institutional structures, slow down the development of approaches aimed to combat land degradation at the national and regional levels. Thus, despite numerous emergent activities, soil resources are still seen as a secondary priority in the region. However, voices have emerged to halt soil degradation and to promote sustainable soil management in Eurasia.

At the #PRECOP25 meeting in San José, Costa Rica from 8-10 October 2019, Eduardo Mansur, Director of the FAO Land and Water Division, stressed the importance of restoring degraded lands, and that peasants should be part of the climate solution through financial mechanisms such as RECSOIL (Recarbonization of Global Soils). He also recalled that "FAO launched the Global Soil Organic Carbon map in 2017" and that the "IPCC in its latest report on land highlighted the importance of agriculture and soils".

The FAO’s Global Soil Partnership and the Eurasian Soil Partnership (EASP), in collaboration with the Eurasian Center for Food Security (ECFS), are pleased to announce a call for short-term soil research projects.