OPENING OF THE SYMPOSIUM

• Mr QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations  

OPENING REMARKS

• H.E. Renato Alvarado Rivera, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Costa Rica
• H.E. Virginijus Sinkevicius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, European Union
• H.E. Tang Renjian, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs, People’s Republic of China
• H.E. Hisham Mohamed Badr, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt to FAO
• H.E. Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
• H.E. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity

SETTING THE SCENE

• Reconnecting biodiversity above and below ground, Mr Eduardo Mansur, FAO   

ARTISTIC VIDEO: Photographing soil animals, Mr Andy Murray 

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS | Setting the scene for GSOBI21

• Introduction to GSOBI21 - Ms Rosa Poch, ITPS chair
• Soil biodiversity: where are we and how it can help in addressing the global challenges? - Ms Diana Wall, Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative, USA - 
• Soil borne diseases and ecological intensification - Mr Wim Van der Putten, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, the Netherlands
• Soil biodiversity, nutrition and human health - Ms Daphne Miller, University of California, USA
• Ecosystem restoration starting from the ground: is it really feasible? - Mr Felipe Pasini, farmer, Agenda Gotsch, Brazil  (subtitles available in Portuguese) 

ARTISTIC VIDEO: When soil biodiversity meets with art, Mr Christopher Marley

LAUNCH OF THE SCIENTIFIC POSTER EXHIBITION AND CONTEST

LAUNCH OF THE COLLECTION OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS ON SOIL BIODIVERSITY, Ms Laura Berta Reyes Sanchez, IUSS

PLENARY SESSION

PRIVATE SECTOR ACTIONS ON SOIL BIODIVERSITY/SOIL HEALTH

• Towards living soils - Mr Philippe Schaus, Moët Hennessy  
• Sustainable eco-friendly fertilizers for conservation of soil diversity - Mr Alexander Sharabaika, Phosagro  
• Project ACORN: Stimulating smallholder agroforestry at scale - Ms Martine Jansen, RABOBANK
• Synecoculture and human augmentation of ecosystems: project overview - Mr Masatoshi Funabashi, Sony CSL

THEME 1: STATE OF KNOWLEDGE ON SOIL BIODIVERSITY

• Soil bioanalysis: a simple and effective tool to access and interpret soil health - Ms Iêda de Carvalho Mendes, EMBRAPA Cerrados, Brazil
• Uncovering linkages between soil fauna and ecosystem function using factor analysis and structural equation modelling - Ms Ashley B. Jernigan, Cornell AgriTech, USA
• Monitoring soil biological quality in the Veneto region - Ms Francesca Pocaterra, ARPAV, Italy
• The biodiversity of soil microfungi in Colombia - Ms Nicola Lidia, University of Pavia, Italy 
• Drivers of short-to-medium term litter decomposition across biomes - Ms Ika Djukic, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Switzerland 
• Litter decomposition and organic matter turnover by soil fauna in a sustainably managed olive grove - Mr Adriano Sofo, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Italy
• Developing a systematic sampling method for earthworms in and around deadwood - Mr Frank Ashwood, Forest Research, United Kingdom
• Soil biodiversity and physico-hydraulic function: How earthworm and plant root interaction contribute to ecosystem services? - Mr Jamal Hallam, National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA)-CRRA-Agadir, Morocco 

THEME 1: STATE OF KNOWLEDGE ON SOIL BIODIVERSITY

• Soil Biodiversity from sciences to action – Feedback from two decades of soil bio-indicators development as agricultural soil management tool - Ms Nolwenn Bougon, OFB, France
• Using environmental DNA to assess global soil biodiversity and build a soil quality bioindicator - Ms Eva Bellemain, ARGALY, France
• Integrating Microbiological Quality Indicators and Soil Properties through Score Functions to Assess Land Use Changes in Colombian Andisols - Mr Raul Aranguren, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia 
• Bioturbations as quality indicators of typic Argiudolls in the southeast of Buenos Aires, Argentina. A micromorphological approach - Ms Fernanda Alvarez, Universitat Nacional Mar de Plata, Argentina
• Soil macrofauna biodiversity in Paraserianthes falcataria and Morus alba plant agroforestry in Bali Island - Mr Nanang Sasmita, Udayana University, Indonesia 
• Soil macroinvertebrates diversity and glyphosate distribution in soybean plantations and surroundings at the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico - Ms Esperanza Huerta Lwanga, Wageningen University, the Netherlands 
• Enchytraeids in two phytophysiognomies of Brazilian Cerrado - Ms Cintia Carla Niva, EMBRAPA, Brazil 
• Regard and protect ground-nesting bees as part of soil biodiversity - Ms Stefanie Christmann, ICARDA, Morocco 

THEME 2: SOIL BIODIVERSITY IN ACTION

• Soil biodiversity: Why should we care? - Ms Briones M.J.I., Universidad de Vigo, Spain
• Soil biodiversity in action at ecosystem level - Mr Flavio Fornasier, CREA VE, Italy
• Soil biodiversity for agricultural production and environmental integrity - Mr Franz Bender, Research Division Agroecology and Environment Agroscope, Switzerland 
• Participatory learning action is important for community action to improve soil-biodiversity - Mr Jayesh Joshi, Vaagdhara, India 
• A coordinated research enterprise on agricultural soil microbiomes and soil ecosystems across USDA research locations  - Mr David B. Knaebel, USDA - Agricultural Research Service, USA 
• Understanding impact of soil biology on crops: the key to sustainability of farming systems  - Mr Gerard Rass, APAD-GCAN, France, and Ms Marie-Thérèse Gaessler, Gässler SARL, France 
• Soil functioning relates to land use in a sustainably managed agro-sylvo-pastoral ecosystem  - Ms Sofia R. Costa, University of Minho, Portugal 
• Utilization of soil microbial diversity for crop production in Sri Lanka - Mr Ananda Kulasooriya, National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka 

THEME 2: SOIL BIODIVERSITY IN ACTION

• Termites promote resource patchiness in Asia and constitute a model for achieving the sustainable development goals - Mr Pascal Jouquet, CNRS, IRD, INRA, France
• Re-carbonization of soils with intensive agricultural use with the presence of pine forests and provision of fungal ecosystem services (suilus luteus and suilus granulatus). Chilean experiences - Mr Samuel Francke Campaña, CONAF, Chile
• Good agricultural practices help to restore sustainable biodiversity - Ms Beata Houšková, NPPC-VÚPOP, Slovakia 
• Intercrop management as a tool to increase soil fungal diversity on rainfed almond cultivations  - Mr Raúl Ortega, University of Almería, Spain
• Recovery of soils biodiversity on reclaimed drilling pads of oil-gas wells in East Ukraine - Ms Oksana Naidonova, National Scientific Center “Institute for Soil Science and Agrochemistry Research named after O.N. Sokolovsky”, Ukraine
• Urban soil biodiversity: A multi-city comparison - Ms Katalin Szlavecz, Johns Hopkins University, USA
• Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal abundance in dry Afromontane forests in northern Ethiopia - Mr Ermias Betemariam, ICRAF, Ethiopia
• Diversity in soil fauna: a good tool for soil quality monitoring - Ms Cristina Menta, Università degli Studi di Parma, Italy

THEME 3: SOIL BIODIVERSITY SHAPING THE FUTURE OF FOOD SYSTEMS

• Minimal herbicide-based conservation tillage enhances soil macrofauna abundance and distribution in Uganda - Mr Patrick Musinguzi, Makerere University, Uganda
• Perceptions on soil macrofauna in the agricultural field i- Ms Marie L.C. Bartz, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
• Biodiversity in hay meadows: effects of intensive agriculture on epigeic macro-invertebrates - Ms Julia Plunger, Eurac Research, Institute for Alpine Environment, Italy
• Soil organic carbon and enzymatic activity under conservation agriculture in Moroccan dry land - Mr Rachid Moussadek, ICARDA/INRA, Morocco 
• Repeated applications of organic amendments promote beneficial microbiota, improve soil fertility - Mr Mohamed Idbella, Faculty of Agriculture, Federico II university of Naples, Italy 
• Microbial biodiversity in the field is related to fruit and vegetable health and linked to postharvest quality - Mr Peter Kusstatscher, Institute of Environmental Biotechnology, Austria 
• Effect of free living nematodes and their associated microbial community on conservation biological control, utilizing soil predatory mites - Mr Eric Palevsky, Agricultural Research Organization, Ramat Yishay, Israel 
• Microbial resources for Mozambican agriculture: use of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi as a sustainable alternative to chemical input in cotton production - Ms Íris Victorino, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique 

THEME 3: SOIL BIODIVERSITY SHAPING THE FUTURE OF FOOD SYSTEMS

• Soil biodiversity management for food security - Ms Veronica Andrea El Mujtar, Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias (IFAB, INTA EEA Bariloche - CONICET), Argentina 
• From soil to table: Agroforestry systems as an alternative to regenerative agriculture - Ms Karina Gonçalves David, Rede Ecovida, AOPA - Associação para o Desenvolvimento da Agroecologia, Brazil 
• Enabling barley production in arid soils by  only exploiting the indigenous microbial biodiversity - Ms Anna Rosa Sprocati, ENEA-Casaccia, Italy 
• Rhizosphere ecological interactions for improved plant health and nutrition in sustainable agricultural production - Ms Cristina Lazcano, University of California Davis, USA 
• Symbiotic relationships and effectiveness of soybean rhizobia in soils of the Nigerian savanna - Mr Anthony Ozoemenam Uzoma, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria 
• Exploring the potential of three Rhizobium strains from Peruvian soils as biofertilizers for the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) - Ms Yohana Aguilar-Cuba, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Lima, Perú 
• Influence of soil type on the biodegradation of pesticides by rhizobacteria: case of Glyphosate and paraquat - Mr Mohamed Maldani, UMI, Morocco

STATUS OF GLOBAL SOIL BIODIVERSITY 

• State of knowledge of soil biodiversity: challenges and potentialities - Ms Rosa Cuevas, FAO/GSP
• Reflections on the interaction between above ground and below ground biodiversity as a way to enhance sustainability and resilience of agroecosystem - Mr Carlo Fadda, Alliance Biodiversity International & CIAT
• About the importance of the soil microbiome for a healthy planet. What does agriculture have to do with it? - Mr Dylan Warren Raffa, FAO
• Towards a large scale assessment of soil biodiversity - Mr Alberto Orgiazzi, Joint Research Centre, European Commission
• Spatial distribution of soil faunal diversity: where ecology meets biogeography - Mr Andrey S. Zaitsev, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation

THEME 1: STATE OF KNOWLEDGE ON SOIL BIODIVERSITY

• Comparative microbiology evaluation of bacterial biodiversity in rhizospheres of vegetative cover of exotic species of Australia (Eucaliyptus), native to Chile (Quillay) and “badland” soils of Chile - Mr Samuel Francke Campaña, University of Santiago, Chile
• Soil Protozoa diversity at coal post-mining area at different age of reclamation - Ms Tati Suryati Syamsudin, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia
• Unexpected microbial functions in agricultural soil decontamination from PCB by SMS Spent Mushroom Substrate (SMS) - Ms Simona Di Gregorio, University of Pisa, Italy
• Diversity and abundance of the entomopathogenic fungi Metarhizium spp. at high sampling resolution in typical Swiss permanent grassland - Ms María Fernández-Bravo, Agroscope, Switzerland
• Assessment of agroecological conditions of terrain and its soil cover using remote sensing data - Mr Alexander Krenke, Russian Academy of Sciences of Moscow, Russia
• Ciliated protists as indicators of soil health: Three case studies from Italy - Ms Antonietta La Terza, University of Camerino, Italy
• Evaluation of soil health after digestate application using QBS-ar and Solvita® - Ms Maria Chiara Rosace, Harper Adams University, United Kingdom
• Biofunctool®, a multifunctional approach of soil health related to soil biota activities - Mr Alain Brauman, UMR Eco&Sols, France

THEME 1: STATE OF KNOWLEDGE ON SOIL BIODIVERSITY

• Use the metabolic fingerprint in microbial communities to evaluate the anthropogenic impact on soils - Ms Rosalina Gonzalez, La Salle University, Bogota, Colombia
• Next generation biomonitoring to assess key species and soil parameters determining the biodiversity in agricultural soils - Mr Luigimaria Borruso, Free University of Bozen/Bolzano, Italy
• Knowledge of biodiversity and ecosystem services of South American mycorrhiza through research networking - Mr César Marín, Universidad de O’Higgins, Chile
• First evaluation in South America of the "Soil Biological Quality Index QBS-ar": A pilot study in the Bolivian Amazon - Mr Sergio Ledezma, FAO Bolivia2
• Patterns of soil biodiversity communities in urban microfarm - Ms Sophie Joimel, INRA, France
• Plant productivity enhancement in a simulated Amazonian Dark Earth (Terra Preta Nova) - Mr George G. Brown, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil
• Evaluation of PGP bacteria against Rhizoctonia solani in Solanum tuberosum plants under greenhouse conditions - Ms Lizbeth Mamani-Rojas, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Peru
• Underestimated biodiversity of edaphic prokaryotic metacommunity in the Western Amazon: risks may be higher - Mr Fernando Igne Rocha, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

THEME 1: STATE OF KNOWLEDGE ON SOIL BIODIVERSITY

• Mapping soil biodiversity research: a network analysis approach - Mr Giovanni Di Matteo, CREA, Italy
• A soil biodiversity survey coupled with the National Soil Quality Monitoring Network? - Ms Camille Imbert, INRAE, France
• EUdaphobase – European soil-biology data warehouse for soil protection - Mr David J. Russell, Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz, Germany
• The Italian skill network of soil biological quality assessed by microarthropods’ community - Mr Lorenzo D’Avino, CREA, Italy

THEME 2: SOIL BIODIVERSITY IN ACTION

• How the biological activity of Oligochaeta shape soil aggregation and influence the soil functions - Mr Eduardo Carvalho da Silva Neto, Soils Department - Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Cultural ecosystem services of soil biota and possibilities of their use - Ms Jurga Motiejūnaitė, Nature Research Centre, Lithuania
• Soil biodiversity teems with life but faces pollution. Are we acting correctly in agro-ecosystems - Ms Caucci Serena, United Nations University, UNU-FLORES, Germany
• Use of Biochar-Lupinus- Bradyrhizobium as an alternative to improve the vegetation cover of High Andean soils contaminated by heavy metals - Ms Nataly Taco-Taype, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Perú

THEME 2: SOIL BIODIVERSITY IN ACTION

• Restoring the soil while preserving functions: a winning approach by exploiting microbial biodiversity - Ms Giada Migliore, SSPT-PROTER-BIOGEOC, Italy
• Recent successes and persistent challenges in restoration of degraded dryland soils - Ms Nichole N. Barger, University of Colorado, USA 
• Mass multiplication of native soil mesofauna for re-introduction in the degraded agro-ecosystems - Mr N.G. Kumar, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru, India
• Recovering soil ecosystem services and functions at a burned native forest in the mediterranean zone of central Chile by the use of organic amendments - Ms Claudia Rojas, Institute of Agri-Food, Animal and Environmental Sciences (ICA3), Universidad de O’Higgins. Chile
• Soil macrofauna and mesofauna diversity in rehabilitated mine tailings - Ms Sara Pelaez, University of Limerick, Ireland
• Recovery of microbiological status with organic amendments on soils affected by mining activity in a decadal temporal scale - Mr Raúl Ortega, University of Almeria, Spain
• How much soil diversity is restored after a cattle ranching pasture is abandoned for its natural regeneration in the Amazon region? - Mr Daniel Castro, Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas SINCHI, Colombia
• Effect of shifting cultivations on bacterial communities in Hurulu forest in Sri Lanka: A metagenomic approach for diversity estimation - Mr Warshi Dandeniya, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

THEME 3: SOIL BIODIVERSITY SHAPING THE FUTURE OF FOOD SYSTEMS

• Biofertilizer applications in India: Current status and future prospects - Mr Ashok K Patra, ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil Science, India
• What dead wood microbiota contributes to soil biodiversity? - Ms Mäkipää Raisa, Natural Resources Institute Finland, Finland
• Earthworms and microbial diversity under conventional and organic farms. Interaction with actual and inherited pesticides - Ms Esperanza Huerta Lwanga, Wageningen University, Netherlands
• Construction of a nif- mutant strain from a psychrotolerant soil bacterium to evaluate the contribution of the biological nitrogen fixation in crop plants - Mr Danilo Augusto Silvestre, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Soil physicochemical properties, seasonality, plant niche and plant genotype affect bacterial and fungal communities in olive orchard soils - Mr Manuel Anguita-Maeso, CSIC, Spain
• Perennial crops for sustainable soil management – Symbiotic fungi benefit from cultivation of a perennial cereal in Europe - Ms Linda-Maria Dimitrova Mårtensson, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
• Volatile Organic Compounds Produced by selected Antagonistic Rhizobacteria against soil-borne Phytopathogenic Fungi - Ms Doris Zúñiga-Dávila, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Perú
• Effect of different species of mycorrhizal fungi on growth and physiological characteristics of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) in cadmium contaminated soil - Mr Majid Rostami, Malayer University, Iran

THEME 3: SOIL BIODIVERSITY SHAPING THE FUTURE OF FOOD SYSTEMS

• Conversion of native grasslands to food and fiber systems impact soil fauna community in Brazilian Pampa - Ms Bruna R. Winck, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
• Transformation of the soil microbial community of the ordinary chernozem in irrigation - Ms Ludmila Vorotyntseva, National Scientific Center “Institute for Soil Science and Agrochemistry Research named after O.N. Sokolovsky”, Ukraine
• Aromatic plants in vineyards: Mixed intercropping as a chance for promoting soil biodiversity and increasing economic revenues? - Mr Felix Dittrich & Sören Thiele-Bruhn, Trier University, Germany
• Application of bacterial biostimulants in productive landscapes of Allium cepa L. - Ms Marika Pellegrini, AGIRE Soc., Italy
• Prospection, identification and antagonistic activity of native strains of beneficial microorganisms for the biological control of rice pathogens in Panama - Mr Rito Herrera, Universidad de Panamá, Panama
• Increased soil-enzyme activity at reduced tillage and cover crops after one year of application among organic farming conditions - Ms Eszter Tóth, Szent István University, Hungary
• A new integrate land degradation assessment approach considering soil biodiversity, humus forms and vegetation - Mr Francesco Bigaran, Centro Studi per la Biodiversità del GMEM-AMB, Italy
• Response of soil biological indicators under long-term wheat production management practices in a semi-arid climate - Ms Elmarie Kotzé, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

SOIL BIODIVERSITY IN THE GLOBAL AGENDA

• Soil health and biodiversity in relation to UN SDGs - Mr Rattan Lal, SPI-UNCCD
• Mainstreaming biodiversity across agricultural sectors - Ms Irene Hoffman, FAO
• Soil biodiversity and antimicrobial resistance - Ms Gunilla Eklund, Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation
• Soil biodiversity: its potential for crop nutrition and disease management - Ms Martha Bolaños, ITPS 
• Bioremediation of polluted soils: status and challenges - Mr Andrea Ceci, Sapienza University of Rome

MAIN SESSION OUTCOMES AND KEY FINDINGS

• Theme 1: State of Knowledge on Soil Biodiversity - Mr George Brown and Ms Cinzia Niva, EMBRAPA, Brazil
• Theme 2: Soil Biodiversity in Action - Ms Zoe Lindo, UWO, Canada
• Theme 3: Soil Biodiversity shaping the future of food systems - Ms Rosa Poch, ITPS

CLOSURE OF THE SYMPOSIUM

ARTISTIC PERSPECTIVE: Super Organism, the hidden mycorrhizal fungal network - Ms Suzette Bousema in collaboration with Nadia Soudzilovskaia, Leiden University
RESULTS OF THE GSOBI POSTER COMPETITION

• Conclusions of the Symposium and the way forward - Mr Ronald Vargas, FAO
• Closing remarks - Ms Maria Helena Semedo, FAO