The International Year of Soils 2015, declared by the General Assembly of the United Nations, triggered tremendous growth in public and political interest in soils, with new information about soil health and sustainable management emerging at an ever-increasing rate from the research community. One of the major contributors to the success of the International Year of Soils was the release of the Status of the World’s Soil Resources Report on World Soil Day 2015.

On 17 January 2024, the International Network on Soil Pollution (INSOP) marked an important milestone by conducting its first working group (WG) session of 2024, focusing on sustainable soil management. The meeting was held online via Zoom, and was attended by 108 participants. The purpose of this session was to launch the activities of the Remediation WG defined during the network’s annual meeting in June 2023. To learn about the WG objectives and activities, details can be accessed here.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is actively working towards fostering sustainable soil management. As part of this initiative, they have initiated the implementation of the Global Soil Doctors Programme (GSDP) through a Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded project on integrated management for the sustainable development of the Venezuelan Andes. The implementation of the project is currently underway with the support of key stakeholders. These include the National Institute for Rural Development (MPPAT-INDER) (which acts as the national promoter of the GSDP), the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, the Ministry of Ecosocialism (MINEC), the Latin American Forestry Institute (IFLA), the Rómulo Gallegos National Experimental University of the Central Plains  (UNERG), the Foundation for the Technical Unification of Research, Training and Extension (UTICEX), the FAO country office in Venezuela and FAO’s Global Soil Partnership (GSP).

Since its establishment in 1924 the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), the global union of soil scientists and soil science societies, promotes soil scientist activities all around the world, stimulate scientific research, and reinforces the global soil science community.

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