Global Soil Week 2012: The Way Forward

Chairman’s Conclusions

Without fertile soils, food security, poverty alleviation and climate change mitigation and adaptation will not be achieved. The Global Soil Week 2012, being the first of its kind, requests politicians, land managers and civil society to address soils and land management as a core priority area now. Concerted action must take place at all levels. Success cases should feature more prominently and be up-scalded. Global processes of the post-2015 Development Agenda and on Sustainable Development Goals urgently need to put soils high on their agenda. Soils and current land use Systems are being challenged by a range of non-sustainable features like urbanisation, overexploitation and malpractice, desertification and the legacy of soil contamination. For participants of the Global Soil Week soil related Sustainability Goals were a striking focus. Held in Berlin, Germany, more than 400 participants representing 65 countries recognized the need for urgent action to reverse all forms of soil and land degradation. Several options to address soils in a global science-policy interface surfaced as a result of the intense debate: Striving to achieve zero soil and land degradation was one of the options. Discussions called for actionoriented and concise next steps. This document presents the conclusions by the chairman of the Global Soil Week, Prof. Dr. Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), Potsdam. The partners of the Global Soil Week collated the core results of the Global Soil Week in the Outcome Paper.