The United Nations General Assembly established World Soil Day by the A/RES/68/232 Resolution. Held annually on 5 December as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and advocating for the sustainable management of soil resources. An international day to celebrate Soil was recommended by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) in 2002. Under the leadership of the Kingdom of Thailand and within the framework of the Global Soil Partnership, FAO has supported the formal establishment of WSD as a global awareness raising platform. The FAO Conference unanimously endorsed World Soil Day in June 2013 and requested its official adoption at the 68th UN General Assembly. In December 2013 the UN General Assembly responded by designating 5 December 2014 as the first official World Soil Day.

FORUM:“Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity” World Soil Day 2020.

This year’s celebration’s theme “Keep soil alive, protect soil biodiversity” aims to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being by addressing the growing challenges in soil management, fighting soil biodiversity loss, increasing soil awareness, and encouraging governments, organizations, communities and individuals around the world to commit to proactively improving soil health.

EVENT: World Soil Day Celebrations around the world.

Soils are fundamental to life on earth. Their protection is of utmost importance to ensure the future of food. But soil erosion is putting our productive land in danger by removing the highly fertile topsoil. Soil erosion – the number one threat to the Planet’s soils - literally washes our topsoil away, down streams, rivers, into lakes and blows soil particles across oceans. While it occurs naturally everywhere, unsustainable human activities significantly increase natural rates. Since 95% of the food comes from soils, erosion mitigation is critical for a sustainable and food secure world.

AUDIO-VIDEO PODCASTS

PUBLICATIONS:

Soil erosion: Special Issue published in the International Soil and Water Conservation Journal

This special issue presents advances in soil erosion research with a focus on new tools that are being used to assess soil erosion rates. This publication includes eleven selected contributions presented at the GSER19 dealing with erosion indicators’ improvement, the use of remote sensing, nuclear techniques and geochemical fingerprinting as promising methods to assess soil losses, management practices that reduce soil erosion and their modelling, and national and regional erosion assessments.

The presented studies exemplify the complexity associated with soil erosion estimates and soil erosion policy intended to move us towards sustainable development goals. The literature is rich with soil erosion research, yet soil erosion caused land degradation remains critically high, which was the fundamental reason for holding the GSER. Building bridges to improve our soil erosion knowledge by sharing science between international partners is a very positive step. However, investing in data development will bring the next major advance in our science of soil erosion and the improvement of global soil resources.

• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research won the King Bhumibol World Soil Day Award 2020

• Soil erosion: Special Issue published in the International Soil and Water Conservation Journal

• The State of knowledge of soil biodiversity – Status, challenges and potentialities and its summary for policy makers

• Farmers and academics explain how to protect soil biodiversity to children in the framework of FAO - IUSS book contest on soil biodiversity

Previous observances

World Soil Day 2019

The Global Soil Partnership dedicated WSD 2019 to the theme "Stop soil erosion, Save our future". It was celebrated in more than 100 countries through 560 events (see WSD 2019 interactive map and official celebrations). A massive amount of articles in major newspapers reached 650 million people. The involvement of high-profile people and household names brought 400 million interactions on social media. Check the post-campaign report: 'WSD 2019: Overview and key results and the Flickr photogallery.

World Soil Day 2018

The Global Soil Partnership dedicated WSD 2018 to the theme "Be the Solution to Soil Pollution". More people than ever took part in the celebrations, conveying the FAO message on the importance of soil quality for food security, healthy ecosystems and human well-being. Four official celebrations and over 300 events in 90 countries marked WSD 2018. See the Photo Gallery and read the Report.

World Soil Day 2017

The Global Soil Partnership dedicated WSD 2017 to the theme "Caring for the soils starts from the ground". The Global Soil Organic Carbon map - GSOCmap was launched, and the UNEA3 Resolution on Managing Soil Pollution was adopted by 177 countries. The sixth World Soil Day 2017 photogallery features fun photos of more than 200 events from almost 100 countries. Official celebrations were held in Rome, New York, Nairobi. FAO co-organized events in Santiago and Moscow.

World Soil Day 2016

FAO/GSP dedicated World Soil Day 2016 to the theme "Soils & Pulses: Symbiosis for life", in celebration of the synergy between the International Year of Soils (IYS) 2015 and the International Year of Pulses (IYP) 2016. The book “Soils & Pulses: Symbiosis for life”, presents decision-makers and practitioners with scientific facts and technical recommendations for managing the symbiosis between soils and pulses. The fifth World Soil Day 2016 Flickr photogallery features fun photos of worldwide events.

World Soil Day 2015

FAO was nominated to implement the International Year of Soil (IYS) 2015, within the framework of the Global Soil Partnership and in collaboration with FAO member countries. The theme for World Soil Day 2015 was "Healthy soils for a healthy life". Special focus was placed on increasing awareness and understanding of the importance of soil for food security and essential ecosystem functions. Soils are a critical component of the natural system and a vital contributor to human wellbeing through its contribution to food, water and energy security and mitigation of biodiversity loss. It was celebrated by the global community of 60 000 soil scientists charged with the responsibility of generating and communicating soil knowledge for the common good of all.

• Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity

• GSP website

• Soils Portal

• IYS 2015

World Soil Day 2014

"The soils community could really contribute to the efforts of food security, hunger eradication, climate change adaptation, poverty reduction and sustainable development" This is how FAO and the GSP secretariat started their words of welcome during the first official celebration of World Soil Day... Soil specialists, politicians, leading experts, and top officials from all across the globe convened at FAO headquarters to emphasize the importance of soils beyond the soil science community.

World Soil Day 2013 & 2012

Recognizing the importance of soils, under the framework of the Global Soil Partnership and with the unanimous support of FAO members, the 37th FAO Conference endorsed 5th December as WSD and requested the UN General Assembly to provide its final endorsement. Since then the soils community has an important opportunity as soils are placed high in global discussions.

Link to World Soil Day 2013 communication material | Link to World Soil Day 2012 communication material