Working Group 1: measurement, assessment and monitoring of soil biodiversity
Development of guidelines for measuring, assessing and monitoring (MAM) soil biodiversity.
Development and implementation of a capacity-building programme on soil biodiversity assessment, mapping and monitoring.
Definition and establishment of a network of long-term soil biodiversity monitoring sites at the regional and/or national levels. Including sites affected by different contaminants where different bioremediation methods using different organisms are applied to verify their effectiveness and potential for scaling up, sites where SSM practices aimed at conserving/ enhancing soil biodiversity are applied to quantify their impact on soil health and productivity and, sites to track the economic benefits provided by sustainable management of soil biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides.
Working Group 2: sustainable use and management, and conservation of soil biodiversity
Development of a field manual on good management practices to conserve soil biodiversity and prevent soil biodiversity loss.
Development of a technical booklet about the main soil-borne diseases.
Development of a database of potential uses of soil biodiversity for bioremediation and restoration of degraded soils.
Working Group 3: economics and policies related to soil biodiversity
Development of the methodology for the economic valuation of ecosystem services provided by soil biodiversity.
Development of a protocol for measuring, reporting and verifying (MRV) the economic benefits of soil biodiversity.
Support for the elaboration of incentive schemes for farmers to reward conservation and sustainable use of soil biodiversity.
Performance of an assessment of effective policies and legal instruments to control soil biodiversity loss.
Development of policy briefs on the state of knowledge, protection, conservation, and sustainable use of soil biodiversity at national, regional, and global levels.
Provision of policy advice to national and local governments to develop legal instruments for the protection, conservation and sustainable use of soil biodiversity.
