The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and FAO's Global Soil Partnership collaborated with experts from across Asia and other regions to produce the first-ever Soil Atlas of Asia.

Satisfying the changing food habits and increased demand for food intensifies pressure on the world’s water, land and soil resources. However, agriculture bears great promise to alleviate these pressures and provide multiple opportunities to contribute to global goals.

This document is based on the answers provided by soil laboratories to the survey “global assessment on laboratory capacities and needs” (see Annex II), which was conducted by the Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN) under the framework of the Global Soil Partnership of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Soil pollution is a chemical degradation process that consumes fertile soils, with implications for global food security and human health.

The report addresses the extent and future trends of soil pollution, considering both point source and diffuse soil pollution, and describes the risks and impacts of soil pollution on health, the environment and food security – including land degradation and the burden of disease resulting from exposure to polluted soil.

In the framework of World Soil Day 2020, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), and the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) launched a children's book contest on Soil Biodiversity with the motto "Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity".

Soil organisms play a crucial role in boosting food production, enhancing nutritious diets, preserving human health, remediating polluted sites and combating climate change, but their contribution remains largely underestimated, FAO said in its first ever report on "The State of Knowledge of Soil Biodiversity".

The Soil Health Card scheme launched by the Modi Government during the financial year 2014-15 with a view to address the decline of soil nutrients, has started reaping fruit. In the second phase of the scheme 11.69 crore Soil Health Cards have been distributed to farmers in the last two years. A study conducted by the National Productivity Council (NPC) says the application of Soil Health Card recommendations has led to a decline of 8-10% in use of chemical fertilizers and also raised productivity by 5-6%.

The EEA Signals 2019 ‘Land and soil in Europe’ explains key pressures — such as urban sprawl, contamination, intensive use of agricultural land, landscape fragmentation — impacting Europe’s land and soil.

The use of Cesium-137 (137Cs) as a potential environmental marker was examined for estimating soil erosion induced carbon losses on slopping agricultural land. Depth-wise incremental soil samples were taken from uneroded reference sites and four levels of cultivated slopping lands representing different erosion phase in Doon valley region of India.

Pages