AFACI supports the preparation of the Soil Atlas of Asia through the update of national soil maps and National Soil Information Systems for AFACI Countries

Duration of the project implementation: From 1 September 2019 to 31 August 2023

Government and other counterparts: Ministries of Agriculture, national soil institutions from the target countries and regions, universities, research institutions, soil science societies

AFACI Countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam

This project is aimed at supporting the collection, harmonization and effective management of soil information in the countries that participate in the Asian Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (AFACI). In the framework of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) Pillar 4, the activities are directed at building nation capacities in order to help every country to develop its own soil information system for supporting evidence-based decision making in sustainable soil management, and for national reporting to the United Nations conventions on desertification and climate change. The project covers all stages of developing soil information systems, including the rescue of soil profile data and soil maps, harmonisation of soil maps in the framework of the Soil Atlas of Asia, preparation of national soil profile databases, soil property maps and supplementary data layers, establishment of web-based spatial data infrastructure and an online learning platform. The essential part of the process is the capacity building that will enable national experts to efficiently manage soil data through the soil information systems and to deliver nationally and internationally required products. Through harmonization of soil data and maps, the project fosters regional and international collaboration, promote soil data sharing and scientific exchange. Eventually, it will contribute to the GSP’s Global Soil Information System (GLOSIS) which will bring the data shared through national information systems to the global scale.

Outcome

The project includes four Outputs to 1) Preparation of national maps for the Soil Atlas of Asia, 2) Production of national soil profile databases and property maps, 3) Establishment of national soil information systems, and 4) Establishment of the Online learning platform.

Output 1

Output 1 includes capacity development activities on digital soil mapping and soil classification, rescue of existing soil maps and soil profile data, collection of additional data to fill the knowledge gaps, harmonization of the soil maps and, finally, their preparation for publishing in the Soil Atlas of Asia.

Output 2

Output 2 focus on capacity development in soil property mapping as well as the preparation of national soil profile databases, and environmental covariates. It is aimed to ensure that each participating country can develop robust soil and environmental datasets to be used for modelling of soil properties and to support evidence-based decision making. 

Output 3

Output 3 includes capacity building on spatial data infastructure and developping soil information systems (SIS), which will enable participating countries to establish their national SIS or improve the existing ones for better usability and interoperability. 

Output 4

Output 4 will address soil education with the establishment of an Online Learning Platform for online capacity development and training and support various awareness raising events. It will also advertise and make discoverable the national soil information systems in order to promote them to the public.