The 5th NENA Soil Partnership meeting 01 Apr 2019 - 02 Apr 2019 Cairo, Egypt Lucrezia Caon, GSP secretariat

1. The Voluntary Guidelines for
Sustainable Soil Management
VGSSM
Ms. Lucrezia Caon
GSP Secretariat
Lucrezia.caon@fao.org

2. Pillar 1: Promote sustainable
management of soil resources for
soil protection, conservation and
sustainable productivity
Pillar 2: Encourage investment,
technical cooperation, policy,
education, awareness and extension
in soil
Pillar 3: Promote targeted soil
research and development focusing
on identified gaps, priorities and
synergies with related productive,
environmental and social
development actions
Pillar 4: Information and Data
Pillar 5: Harmonization of methods,
measurements and indicator for the
sustainable management and
protection of soil resources

6. Sustainable Soil Management
“Soil management is
sustainable if the
supporting,
provisioning,
regulating, and
cultural services
provided by soil are
maintained or
enhanced without
significantly impairing
the soil functions that
enable those services
of biodiversity.”

7. How to promote the practice of sustainable soil
management?
One way is to get people (and governments) to agree on same principles and
guidelines for action.

8. “Zero” order draft (ITPS)
Open Ended Working
Group (OEWG)
Plenary Assembly
For endorsement
First order draft
Implementation
at all levels
ITPS
Regional Soil Partnerships workshops
in 2015: needs and priorities for SSM
25th session
FAO Committee
on Agriculture
(COAG)
28 September 2016
155th session
FAO Council
5 December 2016

9. …the VGSSM elaborates the principles outlined in the revised World Soil Charter and
addresses those soil threats reported in the Status of the World’s Soil Resources report
FAO, 2017
+
Principles Soil threats

10. 1980
2015
• Reflect the major policy developments
and conceptual advances with
relevance to soils, as had occurred in
the intervening period since the
adoption of the first version;
• Recognize that soils are under threat
and that this could seriously
undermine the implementation of
agreed goals and objectives for hunger
eradication and sustainable
development;
• Stress the imperious need to reverse
alarming trends;
• Assist in widely disseminating soil
principles and guidelines for action by
all stakeholders, and therefore serve
the GSP and other initiatives on soils.
o generate more concrete international cooperation and
activities
o mobilize resources to reverse soil degradation
o support effective soil conservation measures

11. FAO and ITPS, 2015
10 main soil threats

12. Minimize soil erosion
Enhance soil organic matter content
Foster soil nutrient balance and cycles
Minimize soil sealing
Prevent, minimize and mitigate soil
salinization and alkalinization
Preserve and enhance soil biodiversity
Prevent and minimize soil contamination
Prevent and minimize soil acidification
Prevent and mitigate soil compaction
Improve soil water management

13. What are the VGSSM?
• They are of voluntary nature and are not legally binding;
• They address technical aspects of SSM (also key challenges and potential
solutions to address them);
• Although they focus mostly on agriculture, many of the principles described have
a significant influence on ecosystem services provided by managed and
unmanaged soil systems
To present generally accepted, practically proven and scientifically based principles to
promote SSM and to provide guidance to all stakeholders on how to translate these
principles into practice, be it for farming, pastoralism, forestry or more general
natural resources management.
Objectives
The guidelines are not expected to provide detailed recommendations,
but are designed to inform strategic and context-specific decision making
at all relevant levels.

14. An example: the VGSSM to “minimize soil erosion”
• Land-use changes such as deforestation or improper grassland-to-cropland conversion that cause
removal of surface cover and loss of soil carbon should be avoided or carefully
planned and appropriately implemented if unavoidable;
• A cover of growing plants or other organic and non-organic residues that protects
the soil surface from erosion should be maintained through implementation of appropriate
measures such as mulching, minimum tillage, no-till by direct seeding with attention to reduced herbicide
use, cover crops, agro-ecological approaches, controlled vehicle traffic, continuous plant cover and crop
rotation, strip cropping, agroforestry, shelter belts, and appropriate stocking rates and grazing intensities;
• Erosion by water on sloping and relatively steep lands should be minimized by
measures that reduce runoff rates and velocity such as strip cropping, contour planting, crop rotation,
intercropping, agroforestry, cross slope barriers (e.g. grass strips, contour bunds and stone lines), terrace
construction and maintenance, and grassed waterways or vegetated buffer strips;
• Where appropriate, riparian buffers, buffer strips, wetlands, water harvesting and
cover crops should be used/installed to minimize export of soil particles and
associated nutrients and contaminants from the soil system and protect the
downstream areas from damaging impacts;
• And erosion by wind, including dust storms, should be minimized and mitigated
through vegetative (tree and shrubs) or artificial (stone walls) wind breaks to reduce wind velocity

15. Whatever the threat is, the promotion of SSM is fostered by the
following core actions:
- Establishment or strengthening of inclusive SSM-supportive agricultural/environmental policies;
- Increasing responsible investment and positive incentives aimed at promoting sustainable soil
management;
- Promoting secure land tenure rights according to the VGGT;
- Fostering and strengthening targeted soil research;
- Preventing or minimizing soil degradation and restoring/rehabilitating degraded soils (including
historically degraded soils);
- Promoting effective education programmes;
- Ensuring adequate inclusion of SSM in extension services;
- Establishing/strengthening soil information systems;
- Fostering international cooperation/collaboration on soils;
- Promoting communication on SSM practices.

16. What are the VGSSM?
• They are of voluntary nature and are not legally binding;
• They address technical aspects of SSM (also key challenges and potential
solutions to address them);
• Although they focus mostly on agriculture, many of the principles described have
a significant influence on ecosystem services provided by managed and
unmanaged soil systems
To present generally accepted, practically proven and scientifically based principles to
promote SSM and to provide guidance to all stakeholders on how to translate these
principles into practice, be it for farming, pastoralism, forestry or more general
natural resources management.
Objectives
The guidelines are not expected to provide detailed recommendations,
but are designed to inform strategic and context-specific decision making
at all relevant levels.

17. Target audience of the VGSSM
Government officials, policy makers, farmers, pastoralists, forest and land managers,
extension services and agricultural advisors, development partners, civil society, private
sector and, academia, etc.
Translate these recommendations into concrete actions and practices
to support farmers with sustainable soil management
Development of national guidelines for
implementation

18. Implementation of the VGSSM
-Practical examples-

20. 15-17 May 2019, FAO HQ, Rome, Italy
Website
Concept Note
Register here

21. What did they do to implement the VGSSM in Costa Rica?
1. Organization of a national workshop:
a) To raise the awareness of all interested stakeholders on the importance to
practice SSM
b) To set the priorities on the 6 main crops in the country; establishment of a
working group per each one of the selected crops. Each working group was
composed of 10-12 people from all sectors – policy, industry, scientists, farmers,
etc.. They worked on
i. Identification of the top 10 soil threats per each crop
ii. The surface area affected by each threat and its impacts on the yield were
scored from 1 to 3
iii. Identification of the causes of the top 3 soil threats per each crop
iv. VGSSM + local practices = find country specific solutions
v. Online survey asking how each of the participant could contribute to
implementing the found solutions
2. Use the results of the workshop for decision making at the national level and call for
coordinated actions between policy, communication and research
Final goal: Develop sectoral plans, strategies and policies in line with the VGSSM

22. What did they do to implement the VGSSM in Thailand?
1. Organization of a multi-stakeholder national workshop to:
• Identify barriers, challenges, and opportunities for the promotion of SSM
in the country;
• Identify core topics of attention in the promotion of SSM at the country
level:
- Soil fertility (nutrients management)
- Salinity
- Soil management in highlands
- The King’s Theory
• Identify priority areas of intervention as well as actions and stakeholder
groups to involve.
2. Use the results of the workshop for project proposal writing and the
inclusion of the identified activities in the national action plan

24. What did they do to implement the VGSSM in the Maghreb
region?
1. Organization of a regional, multi-stakeholder workshop to:
• Present available tools for the practice of Sustainable Soil and Land
Management;
• Identify transboundary issues on soil and land with related barriers,
challenges, and opportunities for the promotion of SSM;
• Identify priority areas of intervention as well as actions and stakeholder
groups to involve.

25. 16 regional priorities were identified. Per each of them a work plan
was developed as following:

26. What did they do to implement the VGSSM in the Maghreb
region?
1. Organization of a regional, multi-stakeholder workshop to:
• Present available tools for the practice of Sustainable Soil and Land
Management;
• Identify transboundary issues on soil and land with related barriers,
challenges, and opportunities for the promotion of SSM;
• Identify priority areas of intervention as well as actions and stakeholder
groups to involve.
2. Use the results of the workshop for project proposal writing and the
inclusion of the identified activities in the national action plan:
- 2 Concept Notes for the implementation of the presented tools and
identified activities will be written in the first quarter of 2019
- A Maghreb Soil Partnership will be established

28. What did they do to implement the VGSSM in Iran?
1. Organization of a multi-stakeholder national workshop to:
• Identify barriers, challenges, and opportunities for the promotion of SSM
in the country;
• Identify core topics of attention in the promotion of SSM at the country
level:
- National soil information and monitoring systems
- Awareness and education
- Policy and extension services
• Identify priority areas of intervention as well as actions and stakeholder
groups to involve.
2. Use the results of the workshop for project proposal writing and the
inclusion of the identified activities in the national action plan

29. Thanks for your
attention