http://www.fao.org/global-soil-partnership/resources/events/detail/en/c/878848/

1. Training on
“Digital Soil Organic Carbon Mapping:
towards the development of national soil
organic carbon stock maps”
By Lucrezia Caon

2. Background information: MILESTONES
2012: establishment of the Asian Soil Partnership (Nanjing Communiqué)
- Promotion of SSM practices at all levels and in all land use
types;
- Restoration/rehabilitation of degraded soils with focus on
soil erosion, nutrient imbalance, soil acidification, soil
salinity and alkalinity, soil pollution, and loss of organic
carbon; and
- Enhancement of soil information by using state of the art
methods of digital soil mapping and advocating for having
national soil information systems.
2016: endorsement of the ASP implementation plan by
member countries in the region
Available at
http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/GSP/WSD2016/Teeshirt/RIP__1_.pdf
2015: decision to proceed with the development of a regional implementation plan to
address priorities in the region:

3. Background information: ASP implementation plan
5 Pillars of action:
PILLAR 1
SUSTAINABLE SOIL MANAGEMENT
PILLAR 2
INVESTMENT, TECH. & SCI. COOPERATION, POLICY,
EDUCATION, AWARENESS AND EXTENSION IN SOIL
PILLAR 3
RESEARCH
PILLAR 4
SOIL DATA AND INFORMATION
PILLAR 5
HARMONIZATION

4. Importance of Pillar 4 in the region
• Pillar 4 is viewed to sustainably glue and further strengthen
current moves to harmonize soil database and information in
the region.
• Accurate, timely and reliable soil information for research,
decision making, and policy formulation contribute to food
security and provides appropriate response to global
environmental issues
• Cooperation and technical exchange improves relations and
capacity to respond of the respective soil information
institution to the issues at hand.

5. Priorities of the Asian region in
relation to Pillar 4
• Sharing and transferring soil knowledge and new technology
within and beyond the region
• Providing soil information to all those with an interest in
sustainable land resources
• Building consistent and updated soil information systems
• Training new generation of experts in soil science and land
management

6. OUTCOME ACTIVITIES OUTPUTS
Soil information systems of
majority of ASP members
established and updated
(involves Pillar 4 products:
polygon maps, soil profiles,
grids for SoilSTAT)
4.1.1 All ASP countries establish national soil information
systems and representative databases
National Soil Information System (legacy data and
continuing inventories; may require additional
manuals/support through technical cooperation)
4.1.2 Contribute to filling national and global knowledge
gaps about the distribution of soil carbon and its
impact on climate change
National Soil Organic Carbon Map based on GSP
Guideline
4.1.3 Harmonize the various national soil polygon maps of
Asia based on GSP agreed classification system
Soil Atlas of Asia
Soil data sharing policy
agreed and Asian soil portal
established
4.2.1 Adopt the Open Data Policy and Ethics espoused by
GSP
ASP Open Data Policy
4.2.2 ASP members transform their data into web services
and provide it as discovery and download services
National soil information institution’s homepage with
subpage on Soil Information System and Map Portal
4.2.3 Establish the Asian Soil Partnership Portal Asian Soil Partnership Homepage
Soil status monitoring
system conceptualized and
initially tested by
economically advanced
members
4.3.1 Select soil benchmark data for soil description and
land degradation monitoring purposes based on
proposals by site selection in each ASP member
country and evaluated using pedo-transfer functions
or other models to develop spatial layers for soil
indicators
Number of sites established for monitoring
National indicator data sets for SoilSTAT
4.3.2 Prototype national soil monitoring established with
shared processed data
SoilSTAT at Asian Soil Partnership Homepage
Geo-spatial data
management capacity of
member soil information
institutions enhanced
4.4.1 Training on soil survey, classification and mapping for
national soil institute without national soil map
National Soil Map of Bhutan
4.4.2 Training on soil organic carbon mapping 1 regional training
4.4.3 Training on soil grid production 2 regional trainings

7. Why Soil Organic Carbon?
The 25th Committee of Agriculture - COAG (FAO, Rome, 26-30 September 2016)
and the 155th FAO Council (5-9 December 2016),
assigned to the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) of FAO the task
to prepare the Global Soil Organic Carbon Map (GSOC) by 5 December 2017.

8. The GSOC map will support countries in
reporting on SDG 15.3.1 on land
degradation.
Global Soil Organic Carbon Map (GSOC)
How will the map be developed?
Through support and involvement of FAO
member countries: bottom-up approach.
Every country develops its own map under
agreed specifications.

9. National SOC map exists
YesNo
GSP specifications are fulfilled
Yes No
recalculate
Product accomplished:
deliver to GSP secretariat
Produce new map
with own capacity
Compile national SOC
measurements
Yes No
Share national SOC data with
GSP secretariat to organise
the uscaling to 1 km grid
Yes
1
2
3
Country-driven approach

10. The GSOC as part of GLOSIS
The 25th Committee of Agriculture - COAG (FAO, Rome, 26-30 September 2016)
and the 155th FAO Council (5-9 December 2016),
also assigned to the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) of FAO the task
to establish the Global Soil Information System (GLOSIS)
3 primary functions:
- Answer critical questions at the global scale
- Provide the global context for more local decisions
- Supply fundamental data sets for understanding Earth system processes
GSP Pillar 4 Implementation Plan at http://www.fao.org/3/a-bl102e.pdf

11. The Global Soil Information System (GLOSIS)
- It is based on soil data sets provided by national and other institutional soil information
institutions according to product specifications developed by the network of International
Soil Information Institutions (INSII)
- Data will be provided according to own national and institutional terms, minimizing
centralized components
- The design of the system is based on published standards for the exchange of digital spatial
data, and follows the architectural principles of the Global Earth Observation System of
Systems (GEOSS)
- A Global Soils Spatial Data Infrastructure Centre (GSSDIC) will serve important elements of
the spatial data infrastructure, together with FAO via SoilSTAT.
- Implementation of GLOSIS should include a training program to develop a new generation of
specialists in mapping, monitoring and forecasting of soil condition, with an emphasis on
countries where improved soil knowledge is essential food security and restoration and
maintenance of ecosystem services.

12. Let’s start…
This training was organized by
Mr. Yusuf Yigini (leading trainer, FAO)
Mr. Ate Poortinga (trainer, SERVIR-Mekong)
Ms. Lucrezia Caon (supporting trainer, FAO)