Pillar 1: Promote sustainable management of soil resources for soil protection, conservation and sustainable productivity

©FAO/Seyllou Diallo The increasing degree and extent of soil degradation processes due to mismanagement and land use changes are threatening our soils. Urgent action is needed to reverse this trend if we are to ensure the necessary food production for future generations, mitigation of climate change, provision of clean groundwater, and reduction of biodiversity loss.

Pillar 1 is strongly linked with Pillars 2 and 5 regarding activities for its implementation, and strongly relies on Pillars 3 and 4 for the generation of technical information that will be used in its activities. Pillar 1 is therefore the overarching Pillar upon which the other four Pillars will contribute in order to provide the context and activities for sustainable soil management implementation and promotion.

The development of Pillar 1 was initiated during the “Managing Living Soils” workshop held in Rome, Italy during December 2012. This workshop focused on the global and regional status, as well as challenges and priorities for sustainable soil management. This was followed by a Pillar 1 discussion session during the 2nd Global Soil Week held in Berlin, October 2013. The aim of the discussion was to decide on the structure of the plan of action and its main content. A formal Working Group of 26 members was formed, tasked with developing the plan of action for Pillar 1.