Events

Global Symposium on Soil Pollution

From: 02.05.2018 to: 04.05.2018

The Global Symposium on Soil Pollution (GSOP18) will take place at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters from 2 to 4 May 2018. FAO and its Global Soil Partnership and Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils, together with the Secretariats of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Health Organization, agreed to explore the option of a jointly organized Global Symposium on Soil Pollution as a common platform to discuss and elaborate the latest information on the status, trends and actions (both scientific and political) on soil pollution and its consequences on human health, food safety and the environment.

The symposium is the first step in implementing the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management in terms of preventing and reducing harmful substances in soil as a way to maintain healthy soils and food safety in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals. Specifically, the symposium outcomes should provide scientific evidence to support actions and decisions to prevent and reduce soil pollution for increased food security and nutrition, and ecosystem services, and promote the remediation of polluted sites.

More than 500 participants are expected to attend, ranging from policymakers, representatives from governments, the private sector and civil society, to researchers and land users.

To follow the event on social media, the official hashtags are #StopSoilPollution #SoilPollution #GSOP18

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Photo: FAO/Alipio Canahua