This document discusses several initiatives related to sustainable soil management:
1. The International Code of Conduct for the Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers is being developed and will be presented for endorsement in July 2019.
2. A protocol to assess sustainable soil management is being developed by the ITPS to provide guidance on sustainability assessments.
3. A concept note on the economic benefits of sustainable soil management is being refined for submission in June 2019.
4. Next steps include developing best practice databases and case study maps by 2020.
3. The International Code of Conduct
for the Sustainable Use and
Management of Fertilizers
A response to:
• COAG 25 recommendation for:
“FAO to intensify its food safety work and
technical support to smallholders at local
level concerning the safe use of fertilizers
and pesticides”
• Implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for
Sustainable Soil Management.
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• UNEA 3 Resolution on managing soil pollution to
achieve Sustainable Development.
4. The International Code of Conduct
for the Sustainable Use and
Management of Fertilizers
• Many consultation rounds
• To be presented for potential endorsement at the
FAO Conference in July 2019.
5. Protocol to assess Sustainable Soil
Management
ITPS Activity
Objectives:
• To provide guidance about how the sustainability of soil
management can be assessed.
• To provide a starting point for regional and local assessments
of sustainable soil management carried out under the pillars
of the GSP.
Protocol under development by the ITPS
Finalized by the GSP Plenary Assembly in June 2019
6. Concept Note: Economic benefits of
Sustainable Soil Management
ITPS Activity
• ITPS tasked at the 5th GSP PA to develop the study
by 2020.
• Concept note prepared by the ITPS and presented
at the 6th GSP PA.
• Endorsed but tasked to refine the concept note and
resubmit at the 7th GSP PA
7. Next steps
Protocol for the assessment of sustainable soil management (June 2019)
Develop a database with best SSM practices (2019)
Develop integrated maps of successful SSM case studies. (2019 – 2020)
Stakeholders involved: GSP Secretariat, ITPS, RSPs, Focal Points, Regional Pillar 1
Working Groups.
8. Call for proposals for VGSSM
implementation
More at the
GSP 7th
Plenary
Assembly
9. The International Network of Black
Soils (INBS)
Europe
2%
Eurasia
35%
Asia
18%
Africa
2%
North
America
27%
Latin
American
15%
Others
1%
WRB, Chernozems, Kastanozems and Phaeozems
Member countries of INBS in Europe and Eurasia
Russian Federation
Kazakhstan
Ukraine
Turkey
Kyrgyzstan
Hungary
Republic of Moldova
Bulgaria
Armenia
Slovakia
Austria
Poland
10. Global Symposium on Black Soils
and Harbin communique
• The International Symposium on Black Soils & First
Plenary of International Network of Black Soils (ISBS18)
have been held in Harbin on 10 - 12 September 2018.
Outputs:
1. The definition of black soils
2. Working plan for the INBS
3. Harbin communique
11. Implementation of INBS: activities
• One chapter on black soils in the upcoming
“Technical Manual on SOC Management”
• Black Soils Map and training session
• Second workshop of INBS in Moldova (October
2019)
• Establishment of a black soil monitoring network/ an
academic committee on black soils and launch a first
version of the Black Soils Map.
• Report on the Global Status of Black Soils
Thanks to the Russian Federation and the Netherlands for their support
12. Technical manual on SOC management at
the regional and sub-regional scale
• Response to the urgent need to
identify and compile management
practices and LUS that promote the
preservation and/or enhancement of
SOC stocks.
• The contributions will be adapted to
site characteristics and land user needs
and consider cost-benefit analyses and
social impacts
• Another virtue of this document will be
to consider the different socio-
economic, cultural and environmental
contexts at the national and regional
level.
13. • Description of the practice: Region and/or country where the practice can be
applied, measurements and evidence-based results with the adequate statistical
accuracy (include data from meta-analysis).
• Context: Local environmental, socio-economic, cultural and institutional contexts.
• Trade-offs: Possible synergies and co-benefits or conflicts with other practices.
• Potential barriers to adoption: Considerations for adoption within the cultural
and socio-economic context. Possible side effects that could negatively affect the
climate change mitigation potential of the practice.
• Benefits and management recommendations: Soil processes that enable SOC
preservation and/or increase, case studies and success stories of effective
practice adoption and achieved SOC/SOM preservation/increase.
• Potential of C sequestration: For the recommended management practices,
including the possible trade-offs of SOC sequestration efforts when assessing the
full GHG balance.
Chapter’s main structure
14. TIMELINE
• Submission of chapters – by 30 November 2018
• Editing to harmonize chapters (ITPS/GSP Secretariat, feedback process with lead
authors) - by 30 December 2019.
• Review by ITPS,UNCCD-SPI,IPCC, CIRCASA, 4per1000 – by 31 January 2019.
• Preparation of final version – by 30 March 2018.
• Final review and clearance by ITPS – by 30 April 2018
• Layout and printing – by 30 May 2019.
• Launch of the Technical Manual on Soil Organic Carbon management at the
regional and sub-regional scale during the seventh Plenary Assembly of the Global
Soil Partnership – from 5 to 7 June 2019.
• Coarse and heterogeneous content:
about 500 pages, in 18 chapters, more
than 100 participants.
• Taking into account the thickness of the
document and the number of
participants, the GSP should work on a
synthetic, harmonized and improved
version.
Hinweis der Redaktion
Good afternoon everyone, I hope you enjoyed lunch
My name is Zineb Bazza and I am the GSP chair of Pillar 1
I will briefly talk about our main activities
The first one was mentioned by Ronald earlier. The International Code of Conduct for the Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers.
The International Code of Conduct for the Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers or the “Fertilizer Code” was developed in response to COAG’s request to increase food safety and the safe use of fertilizers and in response to the third UN Environment Assembly (UNEA3) declaration on soil pollution, as well as a way to support and implement the VGSSM.
The Fertilizer Code also aims to address issues of a global perspective in terms of contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs). The Fertilizer Code provides a locally adaptable framework and voluntary set of practices with different stakeholders directly or indirectly involved with fertilizers can contribute to sustainable agriculture and food security from a nutrient management perspective by following or adhering to the voluntary guidelines and recommendations provided. The Fertilizer Code tackles the issue of contamination and pollution through fertilizer misuse or fertilizer quality.
The Code has been subjected to many rounds of consultation as requested by member countries. Just after the submission of the Fertilizer Code to the 6th GSP Plenary Assembly, it has undergone 3 rounds of consultation, both at the national and regional levels.
We are happy to say that we have now reached consensus and that the Code will be presented at the FAO Conference in July 2019 for potential endorsement.
This a picture taken during one of the consultations, the open ended working group meeting.
Another activity that we have been working on is the development of a protocol to assess sustainable soil management.
The Global Soil Partnership is all about sustainable soil management, and while we do have a definition for what it is, we have no formal or official way to assess it. Under the pillar 1 implementation plan, this protocol is actually the basis of many more activities to come on the identification and upscaling of SSM at the global level.
I believe that you should already be aware of this document as it was presented at the last GSP plenary assembly, but we had many comments from member countries on how difficult to follow this document was and that this protocol should be shorter and easy to use for many different stakeholders.
So for the past year, with the ITPS Pillar 1 Working Group, we have worked on refining this document. It will be finalized by the GSP Plenary Assembly in June 2019.
Another activity under pillar one is the development of a concept note for a study that looks at the economic benefits of sustainable soil management.
Similarly to the protocol to assess sustainable soil management, this concept note was presented at the last plenary assembly, and we were asked to work on it some more and submit it again.
So we are working on it again and it will be submitted to the 7th GSP PA.
For these last two activities and as mentioned on the Pillar 1 implementation plan, they are ITPS activities and they are the ones assigned to work on it. Which is probably why we have had a lack of communication with the regional soil partnership on these.
But for upcoming activities we will need to work closely together.
Now for the next step, and with the protocol to assess sustainable soil management in hand, we need to develop a database with the best sustainable soil management practices and this has to be done as soon as the protocol is published, so after the Plenary Assembly.
And the next step will be to develop integrated maps of the successful sustainable soil management case studies that were identified, by 2020.
Now this activity involves many different stakeholders and the regional soil partnerships play an important role here.
I know that the European soil partnership is very much ahead of us when it comes to these activities. I was recently in touch with Violette and Suhad and they shared an extensive list of sustainable soil management projects. This is great and we could definitely use the model of how things were done in Europe for the different regions.
Ronald mentioned this a little earlier, but under pillar 1 also comes the implementation of the voluntary guidelines for sustainable soil management.
The VGSSM are crucial in the work of the GSP as they are constantly being used as a reference for GSP outputs such as the protocol to assess sustainable soil management and the fertilizer code that I just mentioned.
So far, for this, we have been trying to have the VGSSM translated in local languages in addition to the official UN languages. Some of the languages include Portuguese, Italian, Japanese and Urdu.
Multi-stakeholder national workshops were also organized in Costa Rica, Thailand, Iran and the Maghreb region, where countries developed strategies on the implementation of the VGSSM in the context of addressing country specific priorities on soil and overcome known barriers to adoption.
But for more concrete actions and to reach as many countries as possible, it was decided that the implementation of the VGSSM would also be done through a call for proposals for small projects implementing the principles of the VGSSM. This will be similar to what was done in Eurasia with a call of proposals for small research projects on salinity.
Pillar one also hosts the International Network of Black Soils or INBS. My colleague Yuxin Tong is in charge of the Network.
The International Network of Black Soils (INBS) was established with the aim of providing a platform for knowledge sharing for countries with black soils to discuss common issues related to the conservation and sustainable management of these soils and the need to foster technical exchange and cooperation.
Europe and Eurasia host 37% of the black soil of the world.
So it is very important to implement activities of INBS and to ensure sustainable black soil management in this region.
So far, 7 countries in the Eurasia region and 5 countries in Europe have officially joined the network. The list is on the slide.
According to the WRB classification, Chernozems, Kastanozems and Phaeozems,
The network had its first global symposium and plenary meeting in Harbin, China, in September 2018. Over 300 participants from 18 black soil countries attended this symposium and the experts introduced the definitions and the status of black soils in their countries.
During this symposium, the definition of black soils and the work plan were discussed and finalized. The members of the INBS have reached a consensus about a definition of black soils and have signed a black soil declaration “Harbin communique” in order to facilitate monitoring, mapping and sustainable management of black soils.
The activities of the INBS include a chapter on black soils management in the upcoming technical manual on soc management, I will briefly talk about that next.
As part of the working plan developed in the Harbin Communique, member countries also agreed to develop a black soils map based on the definition of black soils. This will include training sessions as is usually done with mapping activities
A second workshop of the network is planned for October 2019 in Moldova.
And the network and its working group is also tasked to report on the global status of black soils.
My colleague also wanted to make sure that I thank the Russian Federation and the Netherlands for their support with the network.
An upcoming GSP output is the technical manual on soc management at the regional and sub-regional scale. My colleague, Ms. Rosa Cuevas is in charge of this technical manual.
This technical manual is being developed to tackle a need for soc management and to provide good practices for maintaining and or increasing soc stocks. A lot of the information is out there but there is a need to have it all compiled into one manual that can be easily used.
The management practices take into consideration different land uses, ranging from unmanaged and protected lands, forestry, grasslands, different agricultural set ups, urban areas and wet lands. It also takes into consideration other carbon rich soils such as black soils, permafrost and peat soils. And also monitoring, and the different socio-economic, cultural and environmental contexts at the national and regional levels.
Recommended management practices and actions for preservation and/or enhancement of SOC
Unmanaged and Protected Lands (including virgin forests, rangelands, grassland, shrublands,
Forestry (managed/silviculture).
Forestry with agricultural or livestock activities: agroforestry, silvopastoral systems.
Grassland, shrublands, and bare and sparse areas with low, moderate, and high livestock density.
Rainfed agriculture - subsistence and familiar.
Rainfed agriculture – commercial.
Irrigated agriculture.
Rainfed or irrigated agriculture with livestock.
Urban areas.
Wetlands with agricultural activities.
This is the structure of the chapters by land use.
First the practice is described, then the context and tradeoffs. Then the potential barriers to adoption.
Then it’s the benefits and management recommendations, the largest part of the chapter, before ending with the potential of carbon sequestration, if the information is available.
So far we have received 130 contributions and we have tried harmonizing the chapters.
We have sent the draft for review to many different scientific bodies in addition to our own technical panel, the ITPS.
We are now taking all that feedback received and trying to have a stronger draft. Mostly, we need to have more harmonized chapters, but as you can imagine with 130 contributions and over 600 pages, it’s not an easy task. My colleagues Rosa and Yuxin will be working on that to have the manual ready by the 7th GSP Plenary Assembly.
And my colleague wanted me to thank Ms. Costanza Calzolari and Ms. Rosa Poch for their help on this manual.
130 actively participating
Online participation and collaboration
Formal format with the editorial rules
Google docs for editing and correcting
FINAL DRAFT