The Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils held its sixth working session from 20 to 24 March 2017 at FAO Headquarters in Rome. Mr. Eduardo Mansur, Director of the Land and Water Division, FAO,  recalled the excellent work carried out at the fifth ITPS working session, which had led to the organization of the Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon (GSOC17) on March 21- 23 2017 at FAO. Indeed, the great success of the symposium has set a very high bar for the GSP and ITPS also in view of the delivery of the global SOC map during World Soil Day 2017.

The main outputs of this working session were:

• Report by the Chair of the 5 Pillars of the work performed  since the 5th working session of the ITPS;
• Follow up on the plan for the preparation of the "Status of World'sSoil Resources" Report 2020;
• Follow up on the GSP Plans of Action and the Regional Implementation Plans;
• Review of the progress on: a) Assessment at global level of the impact of Plant Protection products on soil functions and soil ecosystems; b) Assessment at global level of the potential of soil protection for increased resilience in a context of climate change.
• Preparation and debriefing on the GSOC17 and follow up activities;
• Report on the collaboration between ITPS and the SPI of UNCCD, IPBES, and IPCC;
• Follow up of the 4pour1000 initiative;
• Report to the Fifth GSP Plenary Assembly and ITPS publication for 2017.