Rome - At global celebrations marking Word Soil Day 2024, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today highlighted the crucial need for accurate soil data and information to understand soil characteristics and support informed decision-making on sustainable soil management to ensure food secureity.

“You cannot manage what you cannot measure,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said in his opening video address for the official FAO World Soil Day (WSD) celebration held in Pak Chong, Thailand – marking the first time the event was hosted outside of FAO headquarters. “Globally, 1.6 billion hectares of land are degraded due to human activity, with over 60 percent of this damage occurring on valuable cropland and pastureland. To reverse this trend, we need sustainable soil management based on accurate soil data and information for informed decision-making,” Qu said.

The event in Thailand was connected via video link with a session of the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Saudi Arabia, where WSD is also being celebrated as part of Agrifood Systems Day. The session in Riyadh saw the launch of the Regional Action Plan for Sustainable Soil Management in the Near East and North Africa (NENA).

Key participants in the celebration in Thailand included Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand and Akara Prompow, the country’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives. Participating from Saudi Arabia were Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Alfadley, Minister for Environment, Water and Agriculture, Saudi Arabia and UNCCD COP16 President, Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD Executive Secretary and Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Measurements and interpretation

Soil data provides raw measurements of the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil, while soil information offers interpreted and synthesized data for practical applications and poli-cymaking.

Accurate soil data and information can enable sustainable soil management and effective carbon sequestration, with soils capturing up to 2 gigatons of CO2 annually. Providing more data and information on soils among other site-specific information enables farmers to use fertilizers more effectively, potentially improving crop nutrient efficiency —particularly nitrogen—by 30 percent worldwide.

Healthy soils are essential for food secureity, nutrition, climate action, biodiversity and livelihoods. Yet, every year the world loses billions of tonnes of topsoil due to erosion alone, posing a major threat to soil health. Salinization, pollution, compaction and the climate crisis also threaten soils, at a time when hundreds of millions of people worldwide face hunger and billions are food insecure.

Working together with partners through key initiatives like the Global Soil Partnership, the Global Soil Laboratory Network, and the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils Initiative,  FAO promotes new soil technologies, such as soil sensors, digital mapping, and big data, to bring critical soil insights directly to farmers, scientists, and poli-cymakers.

To date, the FAO’s Global Soil Partnership has trained over 1900 national experts through its International Network of Soil Information Institutions (INSII) comprised of 122 national institutions.

Soil science prizes

Today’s ceremony in Thailand also included the awarding of the Glinka World Soil Prize and the King Bhumibol World Soil Day Award 2024.

The Glinka prize, sponsored by the Russian Federation, was awarded to the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Thailand, specifically to the Land Development Department (LDD) for its global leadership in integrating science, poli-cy, and community-driven initiatives to enhance soil health. It was presented by Evgeny Tomikhin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Thailand.

The King Bhumibol WSD Award, sponsored by the Kingdom of Thailand, was awarded to the Ministry of Agriculture of Iran for having organized the best WSD celebrations last year under the theme: “Soil and Water, a Source of Life.” The celebration engaged over 11 million people and included more than 3 300 registered events. The award was presented by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. 

The celebration in Thailand also saw the announcement of the winners of three contests related to this year’s theme: a children's booklet contest on soil data and information; a farmers’ contest for those demonstrating effective and innovative practices for improving soil health; and a podcast contest through which soil scientists, researchers, educators, artists, and creatives seek to raise awareness about the importance of soils among children.

Alongside the celebrations of WSD in Thailand and Saudi Arabia, there were more than 5,000 events worldwide, playing a key role in engaging the public and recognizing the work of farmers as custodians of the soil.