Around 90 soil laboratories from 47 countries in these regions have responded to GLOSOLAN’ invitation  to participate in this regional inter-laboratory Proficiency Test (PT). Participating laboratories will receive a set of six soil samples previously sterilized and homogenized. Laboratories will determine soil organic carbon, nitrogen and available phosphorous using various methods following GLOSOLAN standard operating procedures (SOPs). Laboratories will be uploading analysis results. This platform, previously employed for the global PT in 2022, streamlines data acquisition, ensures confidentiality, reduces data entry errors, and expedites statistical analysis.

Collected data will be used to evaluate the performance of each laboratory in terms of both precision and accuracy. Moreover, the overall results will be also used to assess the reliability of soil analytical results in both regions and to develop targeted actions within the regional soil laboratory networks: the African Soil Laboratory Network (AFRILAB) and the Near East and North African Soil Laboratory Network (NENALAB).

In 2018, GLOSOLAN organized two regional PTs in Asia and Latin America involving national reference laboratories. Subsequently, global PTs were conducted in 2019 and 2022 engaging over 80 and 250 laboratories worldwide, respectively. Another regional PT is about to be implemented in Africa and NENA regions thanks to the support of the Inorganic Geochemistry team at British Geological Survey (BGS) in the United Kingdom, the University of Eldoret in Kenya, and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) in France.

More information on the GLOSOLAN’s activities on internal and external quality control procedures can be found on the Network's QA/QC webpage.