Assessment Report on Soil Information

A new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) reviews the availability of soil information, user needs and state of the art methods and tools for soil mapping. Soil information becomes fundamental to guide policies and decisions under the current challenges of climate change adaptation and mitigation, further provision of ecosystem services and sustainable agriculture. The report examines the global data sets that have been developed to map soils, as well as commonly used indicators, and reviews regional and national variability in the quality and availability of data. It also highlights the need for soil information dissemination to potential users and identifies current initiatives in the discipline. The publication recommends linking digital soil mapping to field studies and calls for a multi-scale/multi-resolution approach targeting potential users. The publication also stresses the need for the soil science community to join together in the development of a common voice on the use of soil data and information sharing systems.

Source: Source: FAO 2013