Outcomes of the

International Year of Soils

Sompong NimchuarPermanent Representative of Thailand to FAO

Chair of IYS Steering Committee

General perception about soils

“Because it is everywhere, we tend to overlook the factthat soil is a limited natural resource”

... But soils have been neglected for too long

International Year of Soils, Why ?

Key messages

Healthy soils are the basis for healthy food production

Soils are the foundation for vegetation which is cultivated or

managed for feed, fibre, fueland medicinal products

Soils support our planet’sbiodiversity and they host a

quarter of the total

Soils help to combat and adaptto climate change by playing a

key role in the carbon cycle

Soils store and filter water improving our resilience to

floods and droughts

Soils is a non-renewableresource, its preservation is

essential for food security and our sustainable future

Financial Resources Mobilized for IYS implementation

Donors

Kingdom of Thailand $100,000

Swiss Confederation $100,000

International Fertilizer Industry Association $60,000

European Commission ~$40,000

Russian Federation ~$30,000International Association of Agriculture Production Insurers $10,000

Austrian Hail Insurance Company $10,000

TOTAL $350,000

‘Without healthy

soils, life on Earth

would be unsustainable’

UN Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon

1. Create full awareness of all stakeholders about the fundamental roles of soils for human life and achieve full recognition of the prominent contributions of soils to food security and nutrition, climate change adaptation and mitigation, essential ecosystem services, poverty alleviation and sustainable development

2. to promote effective policies and actions for the sustainable management and protection of soil resources

3. to advocate rapid enhancement of capacities and systems for soil informationcollection and monitoring at all levels (global, regional and national)

4. to catalyze initiatives in connection with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)process and Post-2015 agenda

International Year of Soils, Objectives ?

Objective 1 – Awareness raising

A wealth of communication material

Soil & Climate change

Soil 101 Soil & Nutrition

More than 40 videos produced to promote the IYS

FAO produced several videos and animations:

Videos

IYS logo available in more than 35 languages

Hindi

IsiZulu

Vietnamese

Japanese

Korean

Efforts made to translate the information material into non-FAO languages upon request

Over 6O highlights written for the website

with coverage on the IYS section of FAO

homepage

Blog : Approximately 25 entries received with

more in the pipeline (blog will remain active

throughout 2016)

Some key initiatives

IYS events

• More than 600

(registered) events

• WHERE: more than 70

countries

• WHAT: wide range of

events: from art

exhibition, to high level

meeting, symposium,

regional consultations,

local workshop,

activities in school

More than 150 Articles focusing on the IYS

the Guardian (10), BBC news (3) daily news (1) Sunday times (1) Huffington post (3) Nature (4) New york times (8)

Washington post (1) China daily (1) National Geographic (dossier)

Other key FAO publications published during IYS

Objective 2 – Promotion of effective policies and actions

Two key outcomes

New developments at policy level

National Soil information systems: implemented in FYROM, Turkey. To implement Afghanistan, Cambodia and Sudan

National legal frameworks: Colombia, Bolivia

Soil restoration programmes: Mexico

Development of Voluntary Guidelines for sustainable soil management.

Objective 3 – Capacities enhancement and systems for soil information collection and monitoring

Capacity development

Capacity development programmes implemented in Africa, Near East and North Africa and plans for 2016 in

other regions.

Objective 4 – SDGs and post-2015 agenda

Many thanks for your

attention

&

wish you a fantastic

World Soil Day !