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Objective is improving and maintaining health of at least 50 percent of world's soils by 2030; FAO Director-General calls for political will, cooperation and investment
Bolstering soil health and achieving land degradation neutrality has taken a prominent place in Uzbekistan national priorities. Therefore the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its Global Soil Partnership (GSP), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan, has set in motion efforts to restore soil health and train farmers in sustainable soil management.
It is estimated that around half of the world’s obsolete pesticides are in the former Soviet Union, with a large portion still concentrated in Central Asia. Weaknesses in the capacity of responsible institutions and stakeholders to effectively manage pesticides and associated wastes throughout their life-cycle, coupled with gaps in the legal and regulatory framework have led to the substantial stockpiling of obsolete pesticides in the region. In Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, soils in many agricultural areas are contaminated beyond acceptable human health levels by persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as lindane, endosulfan and Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), posing serious environmental and human health risks. Urgent remediation measures are imperative to address these pressing concerns.
With the aim of strengthening sustainable soil management (SSM) practices in Southeast Asia, a recent mission to Thailand from 19 to 22 February 2024 yielded promising outcomes. Led by the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) as part of the Global Soil Doctors Programme (GSDP) and with the support of the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAORAP), the mission focused on enhancing collaboration with the Thai Volunteer Soil Doctors programme, led by the Land Development Department (LDD) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.
The International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) was founded in 1924 in Rome at Villa Lubin within the International Institute of Agriculture. This international organization, promoted by David Lubin, passed its assets, library and mandate to FAO after 1945.
Now, a century later, the IUSS is preparing to celebrate its centenary in Florence, from 19 to 21 May. Over three days, the event will feature conferences addressing the pressing needs of civil society in the fields of agriculture, forestry, the environment, urban planning, energy, education and more. Thousands of scientists will converge from all over the world to take part in these discussions.