PHOTOGALLERY

Belgium recently hosted a two-week intensive training on soil and groundwater pollution, a key step in an ambitious international effort to restore Ukraine’s military-affected farmland. Running from November 26 to December 6, 2024, the project "Restoring Livelihoods and Revitalizing Rural Communities Affected by Mines and Explosive Remnants of War in Ukraine" is part of a four-year initiative led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), with funding from Canada.

FAO and its GSP would like to invite you to apply for a leadership role in the International Network on Soil Biodiversity (NETSOB) as we seek Vice-Chairs for three key working groups:

Laboratory staff from eight Caribbean countries gathered at the University of West Indies (UWI) in Trinidad and Tobago for a week of intense training on the determination of soil chemical, physical and biological parameters using the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN).

As the impacts of conflict pose increasing risks to Ukraine's agricultural soils, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), together with the World Food Programme (WFP), have joined forces through the "Restoring Livelihoods and Revitalizing Rural Communities through Mine Action" programme. The four- year initiative aims to survey damages related to land warfare on farmland, prioritize mine action assistance needs, provide technical support for returning land to production, and reduce the need for humanitarian aid assistance.

The eighth meeting of the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN) was held from 11 to 13 November 2024 at FAO headquarters in Rome (Italy). The hybrid event brought together 26 in-person attendees and approximately 500 online participants. It included members of the GLOSOLAN steering committee, representatives of the GLOSOLAN-Spec (soil spectroscopy) working group, and the Chairs of the regional soil laboratory networks who attended in person. Meanwhile, other participants joined virtually. This event marked the network's first in-person gathering since 2019, following disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The network, established in 2017, now counts around 1 200 registered laboratories in over 160 countries. The event was a significant milestone for the network, enabling the GLOSOLAN and GLOSOLAN-Spec steering committees to have side sessions before and after the plenary sessions. These sessions focused on translating the network’s ambitious work plan for 2025 into practice.