Global Soil Partnership

The Global Soil Partnership (GSP) is a voluntary initiative created to improve governance of the limited soil resources of the planet to ensure delivery of healthy and productive soils for the future. The area of fertile soil for food production is limited and increasingly under threat from urbanization and inappropriate management. Currently 46% of the world's soil resources are considered to be degraded and urgent international action is needed to reverse this trend. Tackling soil degradation would not only address problems of crop production but also water availability, flooding, climate change and human health and welfare. Soils are central to effective supply of ecosystem goods and services and a significant proportion of the world's population is directly dependant on soil for their livelihoods.

The British Society of Soil Science (BSSS) joined the GSP as a partner organization to support this initiative which will instigate the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils. This will provide technical and scientific advice on global issues and produce a report on the status of global soil health every five years, as sound evidence of contemporary global soil issues and opportunities. As members of BSSS, LRA soil scientists actively support the initiative and, through their research for UK government and consultancy for land users, actively encourage the sustainable use and protection of soil resources.

Further information regarding the GSP can be found on FAO's website