Fun Facts:
• There are more living organisms in a tablespoon of soil than people on Earth

Origin of International Soil Day
The International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) recommended creating this day in 2002 to raise awareness about this important issue. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Conference finally sanctioned World Soil Day in June 2013 and in December 2013, the UN General Assembly officially recognized 5 December 2014 as the first official World Soil Day.

Importance of Soil
Did you know that 95% of our food comes from soils, and 15 of the 18 naturally occurring chemical elements that are essential for plants come from soils as well? Soil is such a crucial part of sustaining our future.

The Problem
This is why it’s so concerning that soil degradation is such a widespread problem – 33% of soils are degraded! This means that, due to so many harvests and unsustainable management, soil fertility is gradually lost, and it loses its nutrients as well. Climate change is also a factor. Unfortunately, this has caused 2 billion people around the world to become malnourished. Not only malnourishment, but hunger itself is an even more pressing problem. To meet the global food demand in 2050, agricultural production will have to increase by 60%!

The Solution
One way people are helping is by spreading awareness of the problem itself by campaigning for it – “Soils: Where food begins”. Repost this so that more people can realize the problem that’s ruining billions of people’s lives and will soon enter their own communities! As of July 27 of this year, FAO is to boost soil nutrient mapping to tackle “an unparalleled global food crisis”. It will take place in Central America, including Guatemala and Honduras, and sub-Saharan Africa. This project aims to improve the efficiency in the use of fertilizers and boost food security and nutrition. This is especially important for Central America because that’s where around half of the population can’t afford a healthy diet and the mountains in that region are extremely vulnerable to landslides and water erosion due to the La Nina phenomenon.

An initiative like this is already underway in Ethiopia, where there is a great need for this kind of work – agriculture accounts for 40% of economic activity and employs more than 80% of the population. FAO used digital soil nutrient mapping technologies to learn how to optimize fertilizer use. This has already increased the yield of high-quality grains in the country!

The week of Jul 27, 2022, FAO hosted the Global Symposium on Soils for Nutrition where discussions about fertility of global soils and ways to better nutrients in soil without damaging the environment were held.

FAO’s Global Soil Partnership has created many soil maps, like the Global Soil Organic Carbon Map, the Global Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration Potential Map, the Global Salt Affected Soils Map and the Global Black Soil Distribution Map.

Get involved!
If you can, join the WSD ceremony from 12:30-1:45 CET to learn more about this crucial topic! There will be artistic performances, presentations by reputable speakers, awards, and much more.

UNESCO BMW’s Involvement
We are huge supporters of the environment and taking care of it, because we know that if we don’t, we’re only going to end up hurting ourselves in the end. We’ve done many gardening projects throughout our local community in Frederick, Maryland and we hope to expand into other towns as well in the future! See pictures at https://unescobmw.org/2022/04/13/gardening/

UNESCO BMW’s Vision
Our vision mission encompasses three main goals that are also in line with this occasion today and engage people of all ages, especially the youth-improvement of the inner ecosystem, enhancement of inner creativity through arts and crafts and lastly, encouragement of inner peace on a global level.
Let us come together to celebrate the ecosystem
Sources: World Soil Day | United Nations, FAO to boost soil nutrient mapping in Central America and sub-Saharan Africa

https://youtu.be/7-YMheTIPJo
Learn more: https://unescobmw.org/eco-system-friendly-choices/