6th NENA Plenary meeting, 18 - 19 November 2020, virtual meeting Mr. Jahanbakhsh Mirzavand

1. Country presentation
Islamic Republic of Iran
Dr. J. Mirzavand
GSP, National Focal Point
Director of Soil Conservation Department
GSP, 6th Regional Meeting,
Nov. 18th-19th, 2020

2. Main activities implemented in the country
In 2018, after H.E. Mr. Akbari, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture Jahad for Water and
Soil made a trip to Rome during 6th GSP Plenary Assembly from June 11th to 13th,
where very constructive Cooperation framework was established with H.E. Dr.
Eduardo Mansur FAO’s Director for Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water.
Shortly the Iranian GSP was established with 5 pillars and more than 20 experts.
Deputy Minister actively followed the institutionalization of vitality of soil to the
National development and sustainability through three steps of
a) Cognitive phase, b) Normative Phase and c) Regulative phase
Two main strategic goals In the Regulative Phase of Institutionalization were
successfully concluded in 2020:
1- Establishment of a General Directorate Office for Soil Affairs and Soil Conservation
2- Authoring the National Soil Protection and Preservation Act by creating an expert
team and getting it approved through the Parliament

3. Main activities implemented in the country
under Pillar 1
1-1: Pillar 1, has been established by a team of 5 expert members
and so far has held 3 internal meetings
1-2: Holding meetings with other stakeholder organizations including
The Forestry Organization, Soil Conservation and Watershed
Management Research Center, etc.
1-3: Provided National Pillar I program within the context of GSP
Regional and Global Pillar I program
1-4: Presenting the National Pillar I Program between December
16th and 19th, 2018, in the National Workshop “Towards Sustainable
Soil Management”. The Report had six important sub-sections,
covering all issues of soil priority.

4. Main activities implemented in the country
under Pillar 2
2-1- Launching a public awareness Radio and TV program on the
importance of soil resources for sustainability and resilience
2-2- Preparation of school textbook subjects related to soil for
different school age children
2-3- Inclusion of GSP topics, in particular VGSSM and Soil Charter in
our annual soil conferences which brings together all the soil field
experts, specialists and university professors.
2-4- Preparation of guidelines for Soil Protection Act of the country
which passed the parliamentary approval in June 2019.

5. What will your country do on the World Soil Day?
WSD-1- Combining 2020 theme with the theme in 2017,
“Caring for the Planet starts from the Ground” we will recognize
the importance of Soil Bio Diversity on the overall health and sustainability
Of national and planetary bio diversity
WSD-2- Combining 2020 theme with the theme in 2018,
“Be the solution to soil pollution”, we will focus on relationship
between soil pollution and soil biodiversity and hence the
environmental externalities of soil pollution
WSD-3- We will also emphasize on the role Soil Bio Diversity plays on the
Soil-water-energy-food and climate nexus and pathways to sustainability
WSD-3- We will also hold extension activities and administer a couple of
National Competitions on Soil Biodiversity and its nexuses
WSD-4- Other activities in progress

6. Main activities implemented in the country
under Pillar 3
3-1- Development a Soil, Water, Atmosphere, Energy, Food and
Climate Change Nexus Workshop
3-2- Development a MRV Workshop
3-3- Development of a Soil Pollution Workshop (on Petroleum Point
Source Pollution)
3-4- Discussions on inclusion of Soil MRV in the National MRV
Framework
3-5- Development and submission to GSP of a proposal for
development of a global Soil and Soil Nexuses Research and
Development Database
3-6- Initiation of proposal for regional collaboration on defining
Regional Adaptation/Mitigation/Sequestration Co-benefit Projects
related to soil and soil nexuses within the climate chnage context

7. Main activities implemented in the country
under Pillar 4
4-1: Completion of the architecture and structure of National Soil
Information Database
4-2: Completion of digitization of Legacy Soil Data. Global Soil Map
specifications have been consulted for digitization and compilation of data
for 18.5 million hectares in three different scales of 1/20,000, 1/50,000
and 1/100,000.
4-3: Legacy Soil Data harmonization for uploading to the national soil
information system.
4-4: Developing an application for loading field soil data from soil
profiles and automation of soil classification (in progress)
4-5: Development of Soil Organic Map, using 46,000 SOC points in
the compilation.
4-6: Starting the compilation of National Soil Salinity Map (in progress)

8. Main activities implemented in the country
under Pillar 5
5-1: Creation of the national network for connection to the Global
Laboratory Network.
5-2: Cooperation in harmonization of laboratory methods in national,
regional and global levels.
5-3: Upgrading soil laboratory standards of operation in the country
5-4: Conductive workshops and expert training sessions for the staff
of soil laboratories across the country
5-5: Identification of conversion factors for harmonization of different
laboratory data in line with national, regional and global soil data
integration frameworks.

9. Thanks for
your attention