The International Symposium on Soil health and Sustainable Development was held in Beijing on 23 May 2018. It was jointly organized by FAO, the Global Soil Partnership (GSP), the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Agriculture and Beijing Soil Fertilizer Extension Service Station. About 160 experts and policymakers from these organizations and representatives from 20 countries attended the symposium. Held on the heels of FAO-hosted Global Symposium on Soil Pollution, the Symposium discussed further strengthening international collaboration on soil management in the framework of Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management developed by the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) with a focus on promoting sustainable soil management in development of the regions under China’s Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative.

FAO Representative in China and DPR Korea Vincent Martin in his opening address stressed the importance of caring for soils as the most important natural resource supporting 95 percent of global food production. Pointing to vital ecosystem services that soils provide, he said “Healthy soils maintain a diverse community of soil organisms that help to control plant disease, insect and weed pests, recycle essential plant nutrients, improve soil structure, and ultimately improve crop production. A healthy soil also contributes to mitigating climate change by maintaining or increasing its carbon content, and is able to filtrate, retain and buffer soil contaminants in low concentrations”. Voicing his concern that a quarter of all agricultural land has already suffered degradation and soil pollution occurring unabated, Vincent Martin called for promoting sustainable soil management supported by sound policies, research and innovation, education and awareness-raising. Among the measures implemented in this direction he referred to 2015 Revised World Soil Charter, regional implementation plans of the GSP, the Asian Soil Partnership implementation plan endorsed by Asian countries in 2016.

Eduardo Mansur, Director of Land and Water Division of FAO, in his speech drew attention to unsustainable management practices that caused degradation of about 33 percent of world’s soils. “The goal of improving global food security and nutrition, in the context of population growth, land degradation and climate change, cannot be satisfactorily achieved unless soils are placed at the very top of the development agenda,” said Mansur. In the context of fighting global hunger and eradicating poverty, FAO devotes great attention to the sustainable management of world’s soil resources and for this purpose FAO took initiative in 2012 in the establishment of the Global Soil Partnership, he asserted. This was followed up by the publication of Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management in 2016. Endorsed by FAO member countries, the Guidelines provide clear recommendations on how to tackle soil threats and implement the principles in the revised World Soil Charter, he added.

The symposium adopted “the Belt and Road healthy Soils declaration”. It stressed that soil health protection has no national boundaries and calls for people to work together to build a community of human destiny.

Taking part in a related event held on 26 May 2018 to mark the inauguration of the International Cooperation Demonstration Base of Beijing Soil Fertilizer Extension Service Station, FAO Assistant Representative Zhang Zhongjun highlighted China’s significant contributions to food security, agroecology and poverty reduction. He expressed confidence that this platform of international cooperation would promote safe, systemized and standardized agricultural production by integrated extension of key technologies on soil, fertilizer and water. “It will demonstrate and display new agricultural achievements, new technologies and new products in Beijing, and provide a platform for exchanging experiences on international soil and fertilizer cooperation,” he added. China’s active assistance in promotion of sustainable soil management practices is set to injecting fresh momentum in international cooperation to reverse land degradation and turn soil resources into a major source for accelerating growth in global food production.