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International Year of Soils 2015
Date: 05.01.2015
After two years of intensive work, 2015 has been declared the International Year of Soils by the 68th UN General Assembly. The IYS aims to be a platform for raising awareness of the importance of soils for food security and essential eco-system functions.
The creation of a World Soil Day and the designation of 2015 as the International Year of Soils is a result of a growing awareness of widespread soils degradation which is impacting on some of the key functions soils have, in particular biomass production, carbon storage and water filtration.
A scoping study prepared for the EU Environment Directorate lists some of the main current threats on soils which are a direct consequence on ways in which soils are being managed and of agricultural technologies used:
• Erosion
• Organic matter decline - Compaction
• Salinisation
• Landslides
• Contamination
• Sealing
• Biodiversity decline.
After the declaration of 2015 as the International Year of Soils 2015 (IYS) by the UN, the Global Soil Partnership as the Secretariat of IYS is currently working on the visibility of the IYS by developing a logo and a dedicated website.
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