Global Soil Partnership

Communication material

*When adding any soil material to your webpage, remember to link it to www.fao.org/world-soil-day/en/

Soils and nutrients

Soils form, store, transform, and recycle the nutrients we all need to survive.

Available in: EN | FR | ES | AR | RU | ZH

Healthy soils grows 95% of our food

The planet survives only thanks to a few cm of healthy soil that grows 95% of our food.

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Soil fertility is...

Soil fertility is the ability to sustain plant growth by providing essential plant nutrients and favorable chemical, physical and biological characteristics.

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Healthy soils and the nutrient cycle

Healthy soils are the basis to produce sufficient, safe and nutritious food. When the natural nutrient cycle is not optimized, fertilizers need to be added to soils.

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Healthy soils and their supply of chemical elements

There are 92 naturally occurring chemical elements. Eighteen are essential to plants and 15 of them are supplied by soils.

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The challenge of nutrient balance

A judicious use and management of fertilizers is essential to soil health and food security. 

Available in: EN | FR | ES | AR | RU | ZH

Hidden hunger

Hidden hunger affects over 2 billion people worldwide.

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The Fertilizer Code

The Fertilizer Code addresses the judicious use and management of fertilizers to prevent their underuse, misuse and overuse. 

Available in: EN | FR | ES | AR | RU | ZH

Bring back nutrients to soils

Soils are reservoir of valuable and renewable elements.

Available in: EN | FR | ES | AR | RU | ZH

Six actions for farmers to fight nutrient imbalance

Six actions for farmers to fight nutrient imbalance: 1) Assess nutrients need in plants and soils; 2) Maintain a balanced soil pH and include crop rotation; 3) Promote nutrient recycling; 4) Avoid soil compaction and reduce tillage; 5) Protect soil biodiversity and enhance extension services; 6) Control fertilizers quality.

Available in: EN | FR | ES | AR | RU | ZH

Soils and the SDGs

To what extent are soils related to the Sustainable Development Goals? Discover more.

Available in: English | Norwegian

The 10th anniversary of the Global Soil Partnership

Celebrate with us the important achievements of the past decade of action!

Download the English card here

Photo contest #Soils4Nutrition

Photo contest organized in the framework of the Global Symposium on Soils for Nutrition.

Available in: English

Soils and the SDGs

Soils and the SDGs

This infographic aims to raise awareness on soils and link healthy soils have with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

English | Spanish | Russian 

Salt-affected Soils: A global concern reducing agricultural productivity

Soils  affected by salinity and sodicity undergo a rapid decline of health, losing their capacity for biomass production, natural filtration, carbon sequestration and other necessary ecosystem functions.

French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic | Catalan | Galician | Portuguese | Hebrew 

Global Soil Partnership timeline

Sustainable soil management in action

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Soil is alive - The story of soil biodiversity

Soil contains the most diverse terrestrial communities on the planet.

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Stop soil erosion - 5 facts, impacts and actions

Soil erosion is the number 1 threat to our global soils.

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French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic



Be the solution to soil pollution

Over thousands of years of human activities have left a legacy of polluted soils worldwide.

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French
| Spanish | Russian

Other languages: Italian

Where food begins

Healthy soils not only are the foundation for food, fuel, fibre and medical products, but they are also playing a key role in the carbon cycle, storing and filtering water, and improving resilience to floods and droughts.

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Other languages: Hungarian | German

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Aboveground and belowground biodiversity: an inseparable interaction

The interaction between below and aboveground biodiversity, including several different animals, plants and bacteria that are part of this symbiotic relationship. 

Catalan

Soil pollution and phytoremediation

Some plants can uptake, remove and stabilize contaminants from the soil, through different mechanisms.

Impacts of soil pollution on key soil functions

Soil pollution causes a chain of degradation processes in soil, jeopardizing its ability to provide ecosystem services.

Catalan

Pollution-induced changes in the functioning of soil ecosystems

Mobile soil fauna often uses an avoidance strategy, reducing the first steps of litter decomposition in heavily polluted soils. 

Economic losses due to soil pollution

Soil pollution entails direct remediation and management costs ranging from thousands to billions of dollars per year, depending on the extent and type of contaminants. 

Russian

Soil pollution jeopardizes the achievement of most of the SDGs

The prevention, control, and remediation of soil pollution are fundamental if we want to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Impact of soil contaminants on human health

Contaminants in soil have widespread effects on organs and systems, producing a wide variety of health outcomes, from acute to chronic diseases, leading to severe development issues, changes in bodily functions, and premature death.

Contaminants tranfer to the food chain

Contaminated plants and soil organisms lead to potentially hazardous accumulations in animals higher in the food web such as grazing animals, birds and ultimately transferred to humans.

Soil pollution, a hidden reality

This poster presents in a nutshell the sources, degradation processes and effects of soil pollution on the environment, human health and food safety and security.

Other languages:  Thai | Catalan

Soil pollution is borderless

Soil pollution is a borderless often invisible threat whose presence and effects are present in every corner of the globe.

Healthy soils, a prerequisite to achieve the SDGs

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), directly and indirectly address land and soil. Many of these SDGs cannot be achieved without healthy soils and a sustainable land use.

English | Norwegian

Soil biodiversity, the hidden world beneath our feet

Plants nurture a whole world of creatures in the soil, that in return feed and protect the plants.This diverse community of living organisms keeps the soil healthy and fertile.

French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic Other languages:  Catalan | Portuguese | Slovenian

Soil biodiversity: a nature-based solution

The diversity of organisms living within soils is critical to all earth ecosystems because soil organisms: are essential for the cycling of ecosystem.

French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic Other languages:  Catalan

Drivers of soil biodiversity loss

Soil biodiversity is threatened globally by human activities. Ongoing depletion of soils places soil biodiversity under increasing pressure.

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What can you do to stop soil biodiversity loss?

Everyday actions can contribute to maintain healthy ecosystems and ensuring human well-being by addressing soil biodiversity loss.

French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic

Soils and pulses: symbiosis for life

The symbiotic and strategic alliance between soils and pulses contributes to improve soil health, adapt to and mitigate climate change, and ultimately to enhance food security and nutrition.

Soil and climate change

Soils are key to unlocking the potential of mitigating and adapting to a changing climate.

French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic Other languages:  German | Georgian | Catalan

Soil functions

Soils deliver 11 key ecosystem services that enable life on Earth.

French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic  Other languages:  Turkish | German | Hungarian | Dutch | Thai | Georgian | Slovenian | Catalan | Italian | Portuguese | Finnish | Czech | Swedish

Soil: An essential ingredient to healthy food and nutrition

Soils are by nature linked to the micronutrient content of our food production. Sustainable soil management can help to reverse the increasing trend of nutrient depleted soil.

English | French | Spanish | Arabic Chinese | Russian 

Other languages:  Turkish | German | Georgian | Italian

Soils under threat

Soils are under increasing pressure of intensification and competing uses for cropping, forestry, pasture, urbanization. These, combined with unsustainable management and climate extremes, cause degradation.

French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic  Other languages:  Turkish | German | Thai | Georgian | Catalan | Latvian

Soil formation

Formation of soil is a complex and long process which depends on 5 key formation factors. Soils around the world are very diverse and constitute a key element of our landscapes.

French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic  Other languages:  Finnish | Swedish | German | Thai | Georgian | Catalan

Where food begins

Healthy soils not only are the foundation for food, fuel, fibre and medical products, but they are also playing a key role in the carbon cycle, storing and filtering water, and improving resilience to floods and droughts.

 العربية中文  |  English  |  Français  | ItalianoРусский | PortougueseEspañol 

  

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Soils store and filter water - Improving food security and our resilience to floods and droughts

Functional soils play a key role in the supply of clean water and resilience to floods and droughts.

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Soils help to combat and adapt to climate change

Soils help to combat and adapt to climate change by playing a key role in the carbon cycle.

French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic

Soils are the foundation for vegetation

Healthy soils are crucial for ensuring the continued growth of natural and managed vegetation, providing feed, fibre, fuel, medicinal products and other ecosystem services such as climate regulation and oxygen production. Soils and vegetation have a reciprocal relationship. 

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Soils and Biodiversity

Soils host a quarter of our planet's biodiversity.Soil is one of nature's most complex ecosystems: it contains a myriad of organisms which interact and contribute to the global cycles that make all life possible.

French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic Other languages: Hungarian

Healthy Soils are the Basis for Healthy Food Production

Healthy soils produce healthy crops that in turn nourish people and animals. Indeed, soil quality is directly linked to food quality and quantity. 

French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic Other languages: Turkish | Italian

Soil is a non-renewable resource. Its preservation is essential for food security and our sustainable future

Soil is a finite resource, meaning its loss and degradation is not recoverable within a human lifespan. 

French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic Other languages: Hungarian | Turkish | Italian | Indonesian

International Year of Soils 2015: Healthy soils for a healthy life (available soon)

Our soils are in danger because of expanding cities, deforestation, unsustainable land use and management practices, pollution, overgrazing and climate change. 

French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic Other languages: Czech Turkish

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Cards

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Soil pollution

  

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Thematic factsheet

Soils store and filter water
Improving food security and our resilience to floods and droughts

Functional soils play a key role in the supply of clean water and resilience to floods and droughts. Water infiltration through soil traps pollutants and prevents them from leaching into the groundwater. Moreover, the soil captures and stores water, making it available for absorption by crops, and thus maximizing water use efficiency

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Official languages: French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic

Other languages - Italian: High res | Low res

Soils help to combat and adapt to climate change by playing a key role in the carbon cycle

Healthy soils provide the largest store of terrestrial carbon. When managed sustainably, soils can play an important role in climate change mitigation by storing carbon (carbon sequestration) and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.

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Official languages: French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic

Other languages - Italian - High res | Low res

Soils are the foundation for vegetation
which is cultivated or managed for feed, fibre, fuel and medicinal products

Healthy soils are crucial for ensuring the continued growth of natural and managed vegetation, providing feed, fibre, fuel, medicinal products and other ecosystem services such as climate regulation and oxygen production.

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Official languages: French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic

Other languages - Italian -  High res | Low res

A healthy soil is a living soil
Soils Host a Quarter of our Planet’s Biodiversity

Biological diversity or ‘biodiversity’ is described as “the variability among living organisms from all sources, whether terrestrial, aquatic or marine”. It includes the diversity within species (genetic diversity), between species (organism diversity) and of ecosystems (ecological diversity)

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Official languages: French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic

Other languages -Italian -  High res | Low res

Healthy soils are the basis for healthy food production
The most widely recognized function of soil is its support for food production

It is the foundation for agriculture and the medium in which nearly all food-producing plants grow. In fact, it is estimated that 95% of our food is directly or indirectly produced on our soils. Healthy soils supply the essential nutrients, water, oxygen and root support that our food-producing plants need to grow and flourish.

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Official languages: French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic

Other languages - Italian -  High res | Low res | Bahasa Indonesia High res | Low res

Soil is a non-renewable resource
Its preservation is essential for food security and our sustainable future

Soil is a finite resource, meaning its loss and degradation is not recoverable within a human lifespan. As a core component of land resources, agricultural development and ecological sustainability, it is the basis for food,feed, fuel and fibre production and for many critical ecosystem services. It is therefore a highly valuable natural resource, yet it is often overlooked...

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Official languages: French | Spanish | Chinese | Russian | Arabic

Other languages - Italian - High res | Low res

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