Status of the Global Soil Partnership | Ronald Vargas, GSP Secretariat

Ronald Vargas Rojas

Status of the Global Soil Partnership

of our food comes from soils

but our soils are in danger…

today 2050

of our global soils are degraded

and we need to increase production

(quality and quantity)

sustainable soil management

SO2: Make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable

Major Area of Work:

- Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity

Also contributing to:

- Climate Smart Agriculture

- Doing more with less

One of the eleven Corporate Resource Mobilization

Priorities

Partners

400 partners: FAO members and other partners (universities, NGOs, etc)

Focal Points Second GSP Plenary Assembly endorsed the nomination of focal points by FAO Members.

Currently 108 countries

nominated their focal points

Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils

GSP Pillars of Action 1. Promote sustainable management of soil resources and improved global governance

for soil protection and sustainable productivity; 2. Encourage investment, technical cooperation, policy, education, awareness and

extension in soils; 3. Promote targeted soil research and development focusing on identified gaps, priorities

and synergies among economic/productive, environmental and social dimensions; 4. Enhance the quality and availability of soil data and information: collection, analysis, validation, reporting, monitoring, integration with other disciplines;

5. Harmonization of methods, measurements and indicators for the sustainable management and protection of soil resources.

Way forward of Plans of Action

As per the Guidelines for Plans of Action of the Rules of Procedure.

Organization of International workshops

Establishment of global Working Groups

Preparation of Draft Plans of Action

Review and endorsement by ITPS

Endorsement by Plenary Assembly

Implementation through Implementation Plans at Regional levels

RSP working on this now

Way forward Pillar 4 Plan of Action Global Soil Information System

Global grids of soil functional properties Global map of soil types Global soil profile database

Global Soil Monitoring System: SoilSTAT flexible design gradual implementation will fill the gap in the FAOSTAT family

Synthesis, forecasting, interpretation and capacity development regular reports on “Status of World Soil Resources Report”

starting in 2015. supply of information to global reporting mechanisms diverse information products available online continuous capacity development programme

Regional Soil Partnerships • The setting up of RSPs have started in 2012 along the process of establishment of

the GSP.

• Regional activities in NENA, LAC and Asia were funded in order to start the development and establishment of RSPs. The aim was to start with regional activities that could pave the path to functional RSPs.

• That experience was very helpful as it showed that RSPs are viable, though every region is very different and single model will not apply. However, guidelines for RSPs are much needed in order to guide regions on how the RSPs will work.

Regional Soil Partnerships

Regional Soil Partnerships

European Soil Partnership • Thanks to the willingness of partners, the ESP was Launched during the Second Global Soil

Week (Berlin, Germany), October 2013. • An ad-hoc Steering Committee and Secretariat were established to guide the ESP consolidation. • It includes a Sub-regional (EuroAsian) Soil Partnership with a Secretariat in Moscow, Russian

Federation. • A first workshop took place on 21-23 May 2014 at Ispra, Italy where interested partners joined

to discuss about various soil issues. • Now, with clear Guidelines on RSPs and Focal Points, there is need to consolidate the ESP.

EuroAsian Soil Partnership • Launched in November 2013 in Moscow, Russian Federation as part of a Eurasian Conference

on Food Security. • The Secretariat is hosted at the Eurasian Center for Food Security. • Various e-consultations about the issue of soil management in the region, specially related to

salinity. Efforts for identifying priorities for developing the Implementation Plan of the region as per the GSP Pillars.

• An EASP workshop was implemented in September 2014, RIP. Next meeting: 15-17 June 2015, Izmir, Turkey

Moscow, Russia 19 November 2013

- Updated World Soil Charter (just endorsed by 150 FAO Council)

- Establishment of Regional Soil Partnerships (all regions)

- Support to develop capacities on soils in the various regions

- Establishment of the Healthy Soils Facility

- Advocacy for inclusion of soils in the SDG

- Preparation of the Status of World Soil Resources Report

- Important work of the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils

- World Soil Day and International Year of Soils 2015

Main Achievements

HEALTHY SOILS FACILITY

PGM/MUL/2014-2018/GSP

• Umbrella programme/Facility was already established in 2014.

• A programmatic budget of USD64 mil and 5 years of implementation period;

• Current Resource partners: European Commission (1,3 million USD), Thailand (100,000 USD), Switzerland (100,000USD) and International Fertilizers Association(58,00USD).

• Potential future contribution under discussions

Beyond 2015