Conference Room 8, United Nations Headquarters, New York

On 20 December 2013, the United Nations General Assembly at its 68th session designated 5 December as World Soil Day. The adopted resolution notes that soils constitute the foundation for agricultural development, essential ecosystem functions and food security, and hence are key to sustaining life on earth.

2017 World Soil Day focused on the theme “Caring for the planet starts from the ground”, acknowledging the importance of soils for food security and nutrition, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and sustainable development. Soils hold around a quarter of the world’s biodiversity and are where 95 percent of our food is born. Healthy soils supply the essential nutrients, water, oxygen and root support that our food-producing plants need to grow and flourish.

World Soil Day celebration at the United Nations Headquarters in New York took place on Tuesday, 5 December 2017, in an event co-hosted by the Permanent Missions of Colombia, Lesotho, the Netherlands and Thailand to the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The observance will pay special tribute to His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, a soil scientist and advocate for sustainable soil management, on whose birthday World Soil Day is celebrated.  

The event explored ways healthy soils can support sustainable development and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Healthy soils can contribute directly to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDGs 1, 2, 3, 12, 13 and 15. Soil pollution is an issue of consideration that has an impact on the environment, the food chain and human health, and is thus specifically addressed in SDGs 3 and 12. Meanwhile, SDG 15, which is among the set of goals to come (together with SDGs 6, 7, 11 and 12) under review at the 2018 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, speaks of the need to combat desertification and restore degraded land and soil.