The World Soil day was celebrated on the 5th of December. After two years of intensive work, 2015 has been declared the International Year of Soils by the 68th UN General Assembly. By the suggestion of FAO's Global Soil Partnership and with the support of the EU, in December 2013, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2015 as the ‘International Year of Soils’ (IYS) and 5 December of each year as the ‘World Soil Day’ (WSD) (see UNGA resolution).The IYS aims to be a platform for raising awareness of the importance of soils for food security and essential eco- system functions.
The objectives of the IYS are:
- to create full awareness of civil society and decision makers about the fundamental roles of soils for human’s life;
- to achieve full recognition of the prominent contributions of soils to food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation, essential ecosystem services, poverty alleviation and sustainable development;
- to promote effective policies and actions for the sustainable management and protection of soil resources;
- to sensitize decision-makers about the need for robust investment in sustainable soil management activities aiming at healthy soils for different land users and population groups;
- to catalyze initiatives in connection with the SDG process and Post-2015 agenda;
- to advocate rapid enhancement of capacities and systems for soil information collection and monitoring at all levels (global, regional and national).
After the declaration of 2015 as the International Year of Soils 2015 (IYS) by the UN, the Global Soil Partnership as the Secretariat of IYS is currently working on the visibility of the IYS by developing a logo and a dedicated website. The Secretariat will establish a Steering Committee that will support the implementation of activities of the IYS.
All partners and interested colleagues are invited to submit proposals for activities that could be implemented during the IYS. Please send your ideas, suggestions or contributions to the GSP-Secretariat@fao.org
Related links http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/scoping_en.htm
Cross posted from - http://www.fao.org/globalsoilpartnership/iys-2015/en/