Ms. Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General of Climate and Natural Resources (DDN), FAO

Mr. Illar Lemetti, Deputy Minister of Rural Affairs of Estonia

Mr. Dun Niu, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the People’s Republic of China to FAO

Mr. Carlos Martin-Novella, Deputy Executive Secretary, Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions

Ms. Astrid Schomaker, Director of Global Sustainable Development, European Commission

Mr. René Castro Salazar, Assistant Director-General of Climate, Biodiversity Land and Water Department (CB), FAO

Setting the scientific scene for GSOP18

Mr. Luca Montanarella, Chair ITPS, European Commission, Italy – Status of World’s Soil Resources

Ms. Mette Wilkie, Director of Ecosystems Division, UN Environment, Kenya – Tackling the growing challenge of soil pollution

Mr. Marco Martuzzi, European Centre for Environment and Health, WHO, Germany – Towards a healthier and safer environment: the role of soil contamination

Ms. Melisa Lim, BRS Conventions, Switzerland – Implementing the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions to prevent and mitigate soil pollution

Mr. Ravi Naidu, University of Newcastle, Australia – Global status of soil pollution

Mr. Steve McGrath, Rothamsted Research, UK – Soil pollution on agricultural fields and other land uses

Ms. Esperanza Huerta Lwanga, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Mexico - The impact of soil pollution on the environment and overall human well-being

Mr. Roland Weber, independent consultant for UN Organizations, Germany – The impact of soil pollution on food production and safety

Ms. Lena Q. Ma, University of Florida, US – Remediation of polluted sites

Theme 1: Soil pollution on agricultural fields and other land uses

Mr. Michael McLaughlin, University of Adelaide, Australia – Drivers of soil pollution in agricultural fields

Ms. Violette Geissen, Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands – 60 years of pesticide application - pitfalls and prospects

Theme 2: The impact of soil pollution on food production and safety, the environment and overall human well-being

Mr. David Ingram, FDA/CFSAN, US – Food Safety and Soil Health: an US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) perspective

Ms. Christina D Siebe Grabach, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico – Pollutant accumulation in soils irrigated with untreated wastewater for more than a century

Theme 3: Remediation of polluted sites

Ms. Lucia Buvé, UMICORE NV, Belgium – Addressing contaminated sites: from dig-and-dump to smart land management

Mr. Talal Darwish, National Council for Scientific Research, Lebanon – Status of heavy metals in agricultural soils and the need for adapted soil thresholds, case study from Lebanon

Theme 4: Developing policies and setting thresholds for addressing soil pollution and Global status of soil pollution

Mr. Dietmar Müller-Grabherr, Environment Agency Austria, Austria – Frameworks for understanding risks and viable solutions – an overview on experiences in managing soil pollution

Ms. Esther Goidts, Ministry of the Environment of Wallon Region/Ms. Marie Jailler, SPAQuE, Belgium – Getting thresholds for soil pollutants: experience from legal implementation in Wallonia and specific issues around Arsenic and Lead

Mr. Nsalambi V. Nkongolo, Institut Facultaire des Sciences Agronomiques, Dem. Rep. Congo – Status of Soil Pollution in Africa

Mr. Olegario Muñiz Ugarte, Instituto de Suelos, Cuba – Status of Soil Pollution in Central America and the Caribbean

Mr. Pavel Krasilnikov, ECFS, Russian Federation – Status of Soil Pollution in Eurasia

Ms. Ana Payá Pérez, JRC, European Commission, Italy – Status of Soil Pollution in Europe

Ms. Ana Maria Rivero Santos, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Colombia – Status of Soil Pollution in Latin America

Mr. Siosiua Halavatau, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Fiji – Status of Soil Pollution in South West Pacific

Mr. Gan Lin Zhan, Institute of Soil Science, China – Soil contamination and risk assessment of phthalate esters in the suburban plastic film greenhouses

Mr. Tom Wassenaar, CIRAD, France – Assessing agricultural soil pollution risks from organic wasterecycling: informing regional participatory waste management

Mr. Mark Kibblewhite, Cranfield University, United Kingdom – Contamination of agricultural soil by highways in urban and peri-urban zones

Ms. Rosalina Gonzalez, Universidad de La Salle, Colombia – Effect of the Soil Properties in the Partitioning of Pesticides (Glyphosate and Paraquat) Used in Corn and Coffee Beans Colombian Crops

Ms. Yevheniia Hladkikh, Institute for Soil Science and Agrochemistry Research, Ukraine – Irrigation: estimation contamination by heavy metals in “water - soil - plants” system

Ms. Sara Marjani Zadeh, FAO, Italy – A global review of water pollution from agriculture

Mr. Olegario Muñiz Ugarte, Ministerio de la Agricultura, Cuba – Heavy metals assessment in Cuban soils

Ms. Vera Silva, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands – Agricultural soils of the European Union contaminated with pesticide residues

Ms. Magalie Lesueur Jannoyer, MUSE and HortSys Research unit, France – Long term organochlorine soil pollution in agriculture: The lessons learnt from the Chlordecone pollution in French West Indies

Ms. Yueling Qi, Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands – Plastics in terrestrial ecosystem: effects of macro- and micro- plastic residues on wheat growth

Mr. John Vijgen, International HCH & Pesticides Association (IHPA), Denmark – HCH and Lindane contaminated sites: European and global need for a permanent solution for a long-time neglected issue

Ms. Ana T. Lima, University of Waterloo, Canada – The legacy of surface mining: Remediation, restoration, reclamation, and rehabilitation

Ms. Claudia Fontana, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Italy – Radionuclide Soil Pollution

Mr. Hans Slenders, NICOLE, EU – Land Stewardship, Investing in the Natural, Societal and Economical capital of Industrial Land

Mr. Geoffrey Siemering, University of Wisconsin, US – Organic Soil Amendments Ineffective for Pb Mobilization in Mine-Scarred Soil

Mr. Ivan Holoubek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic – Experiences and problems of contaminated sites solution in the Czech Republic

Mr. Frank Swartjes, RIVM National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, the Netherlands – Soil pollution and food safety

Mr. Tomohito Arao, Central Region Agricultural Research Center, NARO, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan – Strategies for reducing cadmium and arsenic in rice

Mr. Pietro Lavazzo, ERSAF, Italy – Transfer of contaminants from agricultural contaminated soils to crop plants: a field study at Brescia-Caffaro SIN (Italy)

Mr. Takuro Shinano, Tohoku Agricultural Research Station, Japan – Decontamination of agricultural field and mitigation of radioactive cesium uptake after nuclear contamination by TEPCO’s FDNPP accident – situation after 7 years

Ms. Cristina Lull, UPV, Spain – Legal approach to measures to prevent soil contamination and increase food safety for the consumer

Ms. Margot de Cleen, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water management, the Netherlands – Restauration of contaminated land as part of SDGs. New business models are needed

Mr. Filippo Montalbetti, UN Environment, Ms. Dragana Vidojevic, Serbian Environmental Protection Agency; and Mr. Marco Falconi, Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research – Assistance to the Republic of Serbia in the Implementation of MEAs and EU Obligations through Improvement of Pollution Monitoring of Soil Quality at Industrial Sites

Ms. Warshi S. Dandeniya, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka – Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria in Poultry Litter based Manures and potential threats on food safety for carrot (Dacus carotova)

Mr. Nazaria Marchi, Servizio Geologico sismico e dei suoli, Italy – First results on the bioavailability of some metals in the soils of the emilia-romagnola plain

Mr. Kahraman Ünlü, Middle East Technical University, Turkey – Development and implementation of health risk-based soil Guidelines in Turkey

Mr. Paolo Giandon, ARPAV Soil Protection and Remediation Service, Italy – Assessing Background Values of Metals and Metalloids in Soils of the Veneto Region

Mr. Dmytro O. Semenov, Institute for Soil Science and Agrochemistry Research, Ukraine – Geochemical and anthropogenic factors of variability of heavy metals content in the soil of Ukraine at the example of copper  

Mr. Gunnar Bengtsson, Bengtsson Enterprises, Sweden – Past, present and future exposures to natural elements

Ms. Andrea Ottesen, FDA, US – Bacterial microbiota of soils managed with Methyl Bromide, Methyl Iodide and Dimethyl Disulfide

Mr. Shadananan Nair, Centre for Earth Research and Environment Management, India – Soil pollution issues in a tropical agricultural wetland in India

Ms. Eva Kohlschmid, FAO, Italy – Evaluation of pesticide risks to soil biodiversity – A module in the FAO Pesticide Registration: Toolkit, addressing pesticide regulators in low and middle income countries

Ms. Valéria Cristina Palmeira Zago, CEFETMG, Brasil – Mining and sustainability -a study case in Minas Gerais, Brazil

Mr. Kabindra Adhikari, University of Arkansas, US – Geostatistical mapping of metal elements distribution across conterminous USA

Mr. Claudio Colombo, University of Molise, Italy – Bioaccessibility of Pb and As in contaminated urban soil evaluated by chemical extraction and Vis-NIR spectroscopy

Mr. Hussam H. M. Husein, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, Syria – Mapping Heavy Metal Pollution of Agriculture Soil in Orontes Basin with Semiarid Mediterranean Climat

Mr. Donato Visconti, University of Naples Federico II, Italy – Analyses of native vegetation for a detailed characterization of soil contaminated by tannery waste disposal

Mr. Joseph Adu-Gyamfi, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Austria – Applying nuclear techniques to assess the sources and transport of antibiotics from intensive agricultural areas to the environment through soil and water

Mr. Abdelaziz Belal Belal, Remote Sensing and Space Sci., Egypt – Detecting soil contamination in East Nile Delta, Egypt using remote sensing and GIS

Mr. Bernd M. Bussian, Environmental consultancy, Germany – State of the Art Techniques of Mapping, Monitoring and Modeling Soil Pollution: A Case Study of German Soils

Ms. Tatyana Stefanovska, National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Ukraine – The development and preliminary assessment of using the biological indicators to evaluate the soil quality under miscanthus x giganteus production at the contaminated abandoned sites

Mr. Matar Thiombane, Università degli Studi di Napoli, Italy – Source patterns of Zn, Pb, Cr and Ni potentially toxic elements (PTEs) through a compositional discrimination analysis: a case study on the Campanian topsoil data

Ms. Anna Paltseva, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York, US – Application of GIS to Characterize Garden Soil Contamination in New York City

Ms. Engracia Madejón, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS-CSIC), Spain – Restoration strategies in soils of Guadiamar area (South Spain). Evaluation of the success after twenty years since the Aznalcóllar mine accident

Ms. Yevheniia Hladkikh, Institute for Soil Science and Agrochemistry Research, Ukraine – Remediation of contaminated soils using innovative methods

Mr. Petr Sharov, Blacksmith Institute Pure Earth, Azerbaijan – Remediation of Soil Contaminated with Persistent Organic Pollutants in Sumgait, Azerbaijan

Ms. Nouhad Elouadihi, Ibn Tofail University, Morocco – Phytoremediation of contaminated soils in mining area using Ray Grass Case study: Abandoned Mine of Zaida and Mibladen (High Moulouya, Morocco)

Mr. Nicola Testa, UN CGS, Italy – Remediation by Enhanced Natural Attenuation of POL Polluted Sites in UN Field Missions: A case study on ONUCI, Ivory Coast

Mr. Ángel Faz Cano, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Spain – Is aided phytostabilization a suitable technique for tailings remediation? A field case study in SE Spain

Mr. Deyi Hou, Tsinghua University, China – Green and Sustainable Remediation of Contaminated Sites: Going Beyond the Temporal and Spatial Boundaries

Mr. Hans Kristian Westrum, Soil Steam International AS, Norway – Soil Steaming as alternative to fight weed (seeds), fungus and nematodes in a sustainable way

Ms. Ana Payá Pérez, JRC, European Commission, Italy – Policy questions addressing the management of contaminated sites in Europe

Mr. Co Molenaar, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water management, Netherlands – Soil policy in the Netherlands. The dynamics of joint policy making

Ms. Griet Van Gestel, OVAM, Public Waste Agency of Flanders, Belgium – Policy on diffuse soil pollution in Flanders: human health issues and local food production

Mr. Koen Oorts, ARCHE Consulting, Belgium – A flexible approach for implementation of bioavailability into derivation of thresholds for ecotoxicological effects of metals in soil for varying protection goals

Mr. Erik Smolders, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium – Setting thresholds for addressing pollution of soils with trace metals: concepts, models, and challenges

Ms. Griet Van Gestel, OVAM, Public Waste Agency of Flanders, Belgium – How do soil thresholds function in the policy on contaminated land in Flanders?

Ms. Cristina Lull, UPV, Spain – Soil contamination policy: increasing students’ awareness

Mr. Johan Ceenaeme, OVAM, Public Waste Agency of Flanders, Belgium – Lessons learned after 20 years of soil remediation policy in Flanders

Ms. Eloana Janice Bonfleur, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil – Reference values for potentially harmful elements in soils from Atlantic Rainforest, Brazil

Mr. Jussi Reinikainen, Finnish Environment Institute, Finland – Derivation and Application of Soil Guideline Values in Contaminated Land Management – Case Finland

Mr. Ismail Ithnin, Department of Environment, Malaysia – Contaminated land management in Malaysia: Policies and legal framework

Mr. Raúl S. Lavado, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina – The contamination state in Pampas soils

Mr. Nandula Raghuram, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, India – Indian Nitrogen Assessment, Environmental Impacts and Sustainable Development

Mr. Johan Ceenaeme, OVAM, Public Waste Agency of Flanders, Belgium – The soil certificate – a tool creating awareness about soil pollution

Mr. Alan O. Thomas, ERM, UK – Embedding Sustainability in Contaminated Site Management. Practical Experiences and Case Studies

Ms. Tamara Kukharchyk, Institute for Nature Management, Belarus – Sources and levels of soil pollution by PCBs in Belarus: achievements and problems of management

Mr. Tom Bruulsema, International Plant Nutrition Institute, Canada – Managing nutrients to mitigate soil pollution

Moving the global soil pollution agenda forward: Implementing the UN Environment Assembly resolution on addressing soil pollution – Co-organized by FAO and UN Environment

Water pollution from agriculture – Organized by FAO

Tackling soil pollution in Europe. Policies, indicators and assessments – Co-organized by FAO, the European Commission and the European Environment Agency

Training on Bioavailability of Contaminants in Soil: Considerations for Human Health Risk Assessment – Co-organized by FAO and the Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC)

Mr. Boudewijn F.H. Fokke, Tauw nl, The Netherlands – Sustainable management of the DDT contaminated site in Lâm Hoá site, in Quang Binh province, Viet Nam

Mr. Dmytro O. Semenov, Institute for Soil Science and Agrochemistry Research, Ukraine – Technogenically contaminated soils of Ukraine

Mr. Amanullah Kahn, University of Agriculture Peshawar, India – Best Management Practices Reduce Soil Pollution and Improve Health of All: a review

Ms. Valentina Pidlisnyuk, Jan Evangelista Purkyne University in Usti nad Laben, Czech Republic – Sustainable soil management of polluted military site by phytostabilization with biomass production using biofuel crop Miscanthusxgiganteus

Mr. Daniel Arenas Lago, Universidad de Vigo, Spain – Effectiveness of hydroxyapatite, hematite and maghemite nanoparticles to reduce the available and dissolved As, Pb and Sb content in mine soils from Iberian Pyrite Belt (Portugal)

Mr. Paolo Giandon, ARPAV Soil Protection and Remediation Service, Italy – Persistent Organic Pollutants in Soils of the Veneto Region

Mr. Bret Ericson, Pure Earth (Blacksmith Institute), US – Cost effective approaches to risk mitigation at metals contaminated sites

Mr. Julian Campo, CIDE, Spain – Emerging contaminants in soil and sediment of Mediterranean catchments (Valencia, Spain)

Mr. Oloth Sengtaheuanghoung, Agriculture Land-Use Planning Center, Lao – Interactions between land use, fluxes of water and sediments, and the spread of bacterial contaminants in the uplands of northern Lao PDR.

Mr. Taher Ajmi, ACTA, Direction des Sols, Tunisia – Assessment of heavy metal pollution in the cultivated area around mining. Tunisia case study Medjredah Watershed

Ms. Lulu Zhang, UNU-FLORES, Germany – Assessing soil pollution and application of Water-Waste-Soil Nexus solution for improved Land Use Management

Ms. Ana María Rivero Santos, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Colombia – Pollution control strategy and soil remediation guidelines in Colombi

Theme 1: Soil pollution on agricultural fields and other land uses – Mr. Luca Montanarella, Chair ITPS, European Commission, Italy

Theme 2: The impact of soil pollution on food production and safety, the environment and overall human well-being – Mr. Gary Pierzinsky, Kansas State University, United States of America

Theme 3: Remediation of polluted sites – Ms. Melisa Lim, BRS Conventions, Switzerland

Theme 4: Global status of soil pollution – Ms. Natalia Rodríguez Eugenio, FAO, Italy

Mr. Domenico Morabito, INRA/Universita degli Studi del Molise, France/Italy – Biochar an efficient tool to decrease Pb and As in metal(loid)s contaminated soils and to allow assisted phytoremediation of multicontaminated technosols using tree species.

Ms. Ana T. Lima, Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo, Brazil – Environmental Electrokinetics for a Sustainable Subsurface

Mr. Samuel Tetsopgang, University of Bamenda, Cameroon – Rock fines as amendment enhances crop yield and soil chemicals while decreasing soil acidity on a tropical soil in the northwest region of Cameroon, Africa.

Mr. Vishal Tripathi, Banaras Hindu University, India – Comparative analysis of leaf litter and biochar for the onsite remediation of Hexachlorocyclohexane polluted soils

Ms. Jeyanny Vijayanathan, Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Malaysia – Reversing soil degradation via phytoremediation techniques in an ex-tin mine and gold mine in Peninsular Malaysia

Mr. Karen Ghazaryan, Yerevan State University, Armenia – Copper phytoremediation potential of wild plant species growing in the mine polluted areas of Armenia

Conclusions and way forward  – Mr. Ronald Vargas, Global Soil Partnership Secretariat, FAO

Mr. René Castro Salazar, Assistant Director-General of Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water Department (CB), FAO