Healthy soils are essential for achieving food security and nutrition and provide various ecosystem services, including maintenance of biodiversity and resilience to climate variability and climate change.

Emphasising on the fact that soil performs fundamental roles for human well-being, the Ministry of Agriculture of Jordan and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations are organising “NENA Soil Partnership Workshop” in Amman – Jordan, on 1-3 June, 2015.

The workshop will bring together representatives from NENA national soil institutions to help advance the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) in the region. The workshop is one of a series of Regional Soil Partnership Workshops being convened as part of activities to commemorate the International Year of Soils (IYS) 2015, under the auspices of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP). One of the objectives of the workshops is to consolidate collaboration among countries of the region.

Activities during the workshops will include: establishing steering committees where these are not currently available; appointing chairs for working groups' pillars; and finalizing regional implementation plans.

NENA Soil Partnership Workshop coincides with the International Year of Soils, which aims to raise awareness about often-unrecognized benefits of soils to human health and sustainable development.