IASS, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. Global Soil Partnership – 2nd Plenary Assembly, 23 July 2014, Rome 1

Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies IASS in Potsdam

The European Soil Partnership

Jes Weigelt

IASS, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. Global Soil Partnership – 2nd Plenary Assembly, 23 July 2014, Rome 2

Our Activities in a Nutshell

2nd Global Soil Week (October 2013): Establishment of the European Soil Partnership

Berlin Communiqué: ad hoc Steering Committee of the European Soil Partnership

November 2013: Launch of the Eurasian Soil Partnership

Moscow Communiqué: ad hoc Steering Committee of the Eurasian Soil Partnership

February 2014: 1st Meeting of the Steering Committee of the European Soil Partnership to prepare the 1st Plenary Meeting (Potsdam, Germany)

May 2014: 1st Plenary Meeting of the European Soil Partnership at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (Ispra, Italy)

September 2014: Plenary Session of the Eurasian Soil Partnership

IASS, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. Global Soil Partnership – 2nd Plenary Assembly, 23 July 2014, Rome 3

European Soil Partnership: Setup and Governance

Establishment of a Eurasian Soil Partnership within the European Soil Partnership

Eurasian Soil Partnership:

Secretariat: Eurasian Centre for Food Security (Moscow, Russia)

Steering Committee: Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia), Dokuchaev Soil Institute (Russia), Institute of Land Management (Kyrgyzstan), Sokolovski Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry (Ukraine), Ministry of Agriculture (Turkey)

European Soil Partnership:

Secretariat: Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (Ispra, Italy)

Chair: IASS, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (Potsdam, Germany)

Steering Committee: European Commission, Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute (Slovakia), IASS (Germany), Eurasian Centre for Food Security (Russia), European Soil Bureau Network

IASS, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. Global Soil Partnership – 2nd Plenary Assembly, 23 July 2014, Rome 4

The Moscow Communiqué on the Eurasian Soil Partnership

After an active discussion, participant partners decided to:

Establish the Eurasian Soil Partnership (EASP) whose secretariat is based in Moscow (Russian Federation).

Establish an ad-hoc Steering Committee for the Eurasian Subregional Soil Partnership comprising the following members:

•Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia)

•Dokuchaev Soil Institute (Moscow, Russia)

•Institute of Land Management (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan)

•Sokolovski Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry (Kharkiv, Ukraine)

•Ministry of Agriculture (Ankara, Turkey)

Appoint the Eurasian Center for Food Security as the Secretariat to the EASP.

Hold the next meeting of the EASP in May of 2014.

Prepare appropriate working documents for the next meeting to inform the debate. Such documents, if at all possible, be sent four weeks in advance of the respective meeting.

IASS, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. Global Soil Partnership – 2nd Plenary Assembly, 23 July 2014, Rome 5

Eurasian Center for Food Security

• ECFS founded as a response of Russian Federation to the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative

• The focal area for the ECFS is the Central Asian region

• The activities include conducting and supporting research in land management and agricultural economy, education (including distant learning), and expertise

http://ecfs.msu.ru

IASS, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. Global Soil Partnership – 2nd Plenary Assembly, 23 July 2014, Rome 6

The tasks and calendar of the Eurasian Soil Partnership

• The EASP Secretariat collected the proposals for the Plan of Action until the 1st of February.

• The zero draft of the Plan of Action was sent to the members of Steering Committee 15 of February.

• The feedback from the members was received to the beginning of April

• The Plan of Action was discussed in the form of online consultations (web forum) until the 6th of June

• The Secretariat will prepare the final version of the Plan of Action, the draft version of the Implementation Plan and other related documents to the Plenary Session of the EASP to be held in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) during the ICAL2 meeting 9-13 of September

• The Steering Committee of the EASP will be extended during the Plenary Session

IASS, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. Global Soil Partnership – 2nd Plenary Assembly, 23 July 2014, Rome 7

Draft Plan of Action of the Eurasian Soil Partnership

1. The partners agree that EASP will be organized around five main pillars of action of the Global Soil Partnership.

2. Partners agree that the optimal way for concentration of efforts on the main pillars of the program is the development of issues relevant to all partners of the EASP. During the discussion, it was decided that such an issue for the Eurasian region was soil salinization.

3. Partners agree that due to the breadth of geographical coverage and the wide range of the goals, funding cannot be received from a single source, so they are prepared to make an effort to search for internal and external sources of funding.

IASS, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. Global Soil Partnership – 2nd Plenary Assembly, 23 July 2014, Rome 8

E-consultations on the Plan of Action for the Eurasian Soil Partnership

http://edu.ecfs.msu.ru/mod/forum/view.php?id=1737

IASS, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. Global Soil Partnership – 2nd Plenary Assembly, 23 July 2014, Rome 9

The Plenary Session of the Eurasian Soil Partnership

• The EASP Plenary Session will be held during the International Conference on Arid Land Studies (ICAL2) to be held in Samarkand 9-13 of September 2014

• The main objective of the Plenary Session is to approve the Implementation Plan for the EASP

IASS, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. Global Soil Partnership – 2nd Plenary Assembly, 23 July 2014, Rome 10

1st Plenary Assembly of the European Soil Partnership

1st Plenary Assembly of the European Soil Partnership was held at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Ispra, Italy, 21-23 May 2014

Well attended meeting: 90 Participants from 31 countries across FAO Europe region

Objectives

Informing about the European Soil Partnership & “membership drive”

Presentation and discussion of the 5 Pillars of Action including the four available Plans of Action

Outcomes: 16 working groups to follow up on the discussions

4 working groups to prepare for the implementation of the Action Plans

12 working groups addressing topics ranging from, for example, research, land take, to SDGs.

Five detailed reports of the discussions on the pillars

IASS, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. Global Soil Partnership – 2nd Plenary Assembly, 23 July 2014, Rome 11

Contact

Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. Berliner Straße 130 D – 14467 Potsdam Web: www.iass-potsdam.de and www.globalsoilweek.org

Jes Weigelt Coordinator, Global Soil Forum jes.weigelt@iass-potsdam.de