The Thirteenth Session of the Plenary Assembly (PA13) of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) was held from 3 to 5 June at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. All sessions were provided with simultaneous interpretation into the six official languages of FAO. The forum was attended by over 300 delegates, technical experts and partners from around the world, both in person and online (up to 80 participants).
The agenda of the Plenary Assembly ("Agenda and timetable 13 PA of GSP.pdf"), as well as all official documents — explanatory notes, draft decisions, etc., were published in advance by the GSP Secretariat on the FAO website: https://www.fao.org/global-soil-partnership/about/plenary-assembly/thirteenth-session-2025/en/.
The opening ceremony of the celebration of achievements in the field of land and soils on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of FAO was attended by the Director-General of FAO in a video message Dr. Qu Dongyu, as well as representatives from Iran, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Mongolia, Brazil, China, Thailand, UNESCO and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
High-Level Roundtable 1 “Data, Science, Innovation and Technology” focuses on FAO’s work in collaboration with partners (including member countries, UN agencies and research institutions) to collect, analyse and facilitate access by members, farmers and other users to data and information on the state and use of land resources and soils for informed decisions on planning, management and investment.
At the second High-Level Roundtable "Sustainable Management and Restoration of Land and Soil Resources", speakers - representatives of agricultural ministries and other agricultural structures from many countries - covered issues related to sustainable management and restoration of land and soil resources, including policy, land use planning, and investments.
Traditionally, the first working item at the Plenary Assembly was a discussion of the information provided by the GSP Secretariat on the prospects for establishing a Subcommittee on Soils in the UN Committee on Agriculture (COAG) and improving the current structure of the GSP. The proposal to establish another intergovernmental advisory body on soil policy within the GSP structure: the Intergovernmental Policy Panel on Soils (IPPS) was approved.
The report on the financial status of the Public Sector Enterprise was made by the chief economist Ms. Vanja Maslovaric considering the significant expansion in the number of GPP donors over the past year (more than 15 private companies and government institutions) and the very significant US contribution (up to $30 million) to the GPP budget.
In the report of the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Soils (ITPS), Prof. Rosa M. Poch An overview of the main activities over the past 11 months and an updated ITPS work plan for 2025 and 2026 were presented. Information was provided on the completion and release of the second edition of the State of the World Soil Resources Report (SWSR), which will be published by the end of 2025. The report was developed within the framework of a broad inclusive process, in which 278 experts from 71 countries from all regions took part. It should be noted that the Report also includes materials from scientists from the NSC "IGA named after O. N. Sokolovsky" on the state of Ukraine's soil resources in peace and war.
At the end of the first day of work Mr. Lifeng Li, Director of the Land and Water Resources Division, presented to the participants of the Plenary Assembly the exhibition "Legacy of Action in Land and Soils for Food Security and Sustainability of the Future", which, in the form of a historical journey, highlighted FAO's key achievements in soil and land management in the context of FAO's 80th anniversary.
As part of the celebration of FAO’s 80th anniversary, during the morning session of the second day, several key partners of FAO and the GGP showcased their achievements in the development of soil knowledge, information systems and soil monitoring over the past eight decades, together with FAO, for sustainable soil and land management. They also discussed future actions to implement FAO’s ambitious Strategic Agenda and the GGP’s goal of achieving 50 percent healthy soils by 2030. The following presentations were noteworthy: Mr Rik van den Bosch – Head of ISRIC, Mr Arwin Jones – leading expert on soils of the JRC and EUSO, Prof. Edoardo AC Costantini — former president of the International Union of Soil Scientists and Prof. Zhang Ganlin from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In his presentation, Prof. Z. Ganlin, in particular, spoke about the experience of three national soil surveys in China since the 1930s, the current program of the 3rd survey 2022-2025, and the creation of high-resolution soil maps of China, including 3D maps for precise management.
The main issue of the afternoon session of the second working day of the Plenary Assembly was the discussion of the status of implementation Framework Program of Actions of the GPP for 2022-2030. in the following areas:
• development of the Global Soil Health Dashboard and a system of key performance indicators for the GHP Action Framework;
• Action Line 1: Sustainable management and restoration of soils for the provision of ecosystem services;
• Action Line 2: Strengthening soil management;
• Action Line 3: Promoting soil knowledge and literacy;
• Action Line 4: Promote awareness and advocacy for soil health;
• Action Line 5: Assess, map and monitor soil health in a coordinated manner
• Action Line 6: Promote technical cooperation, including with gender groups and youth.
During the discussion of the problems of sustainable management and soil restoration, there was a speech by a representative of Ukraine, Deputy Coordinator of Ukraine's Cooperation with the GPP, Coordinator of International Activities of the NSC ISSAR Arkady Levin. He presented the conclusions of the Institute's research, according to which more than 15 million hectares of Ukrainian lands have already suffered from more than fifteen different factors of military soil degradation. During the three years of war, tens of millions of shell, bomb and rocket explosions, as well as more than hundreds of thousands of units of destroyed military equipment, caused a catastrophic deterioration in the condition of agricultural lands and soil health. It was emphasized that the condition of Ukrainian soils is described in several recent reports of FAO, ESP and JRC (State of the World's Soil Resources (second edition in preparation for publication), SWSRR 2025, FAO; State of the Environment and Climate in Ukraine, 2025, JRC; State of Soils in Europe, 2024, JRC+EEA), as well as in numerous articles and monographs by Ukrainian soil scientists published in recent years.
Given the negative impact on global food security, the situation with military soil degradation in Ukraine should be considered very alarming, which is already causing concern among numerous international organizations, among which the UN World Food Program (WFP) and FAO occupy the most active position. In recent years, with their financial and technical support, Ukrainian soil scientists have been carrying out several projects for detailed survey of land plots in the territories affected by military actions. To coordinate international and national activities to overcome the problems of military soil degradation in Ukraine, it was proposed to create a special Working Group on Survey and Post-War Rehabilitation of Ukrainian Soils within the framework of the Global or European Soil Partnership. Secretary of the GSP, Director of the Department of Land and Water Resources of FAO Mr. Lifeng Li noted that the GGP Secretariat recognizes the exceptional state of affairs and the complexity of the situation in Ukraine and is already making certain efforts to improve it. In particular, the capabilities of the FAO/GGP International Network of Contaminated Soils (INSOP) are being used, as its Chairman, Prof., later emphasized in his report. Ravi Naidu.
The third working day of the Plenary Assembly was dedicated to discussing the celebration of World Soil Day 2025, the holding of Global Symposia, the activities of numerous international FAO/GSP technical networks (INSII - soil information, INBS - chernozem soils, INSAS - saline soils, INSOILFER - soil fertility and fertilizers, NETSOB - soil biodiversity, INSOP - soil pollution) and regional soil partnerships.
Let's note a few important points:
• The Global Symposium on Soil Sealing and Urbanized Soils is planned by the GGP in 2025, the Global Symposium on Soil Compaction and Physical Degradation in 2026, and the Global Symposium on Soil Acidification in 2027;
• the celebration of World Soil Day 2025 (WSD2025) will be held under the slogan “Healthy soils for healthy cities”, and 2026 (WSD2026) — “Stop soil compaction, boost soil production”;
• it is proposed to create a new international network on soil erosion (INSER), since, according to the results of the GGP/FAO global survey, erosion has been recognized as one of the main threats to soils in the world;
• in the report of the Chair of the European Soil Partnership (ESP) Mr Rainer Baritz, the large scale of war damage to Ukrainian soils was noted, but unfortunately, no systematic plan or program was proposed to overcome them using existing experience. Ukrainian soil scientists should continue to initiate practical steps to attract the ultra-high potential of ESP partners for accelerated post-war rehabilitation of Ukrainian soils;
• Unfortunately, the presented results and plans of all international GPP networks, with the exception of INSOP, do not contain any mention of the problem of large-scale military soil degradation in Ukraine.
It should be noted that the management and coordinators of the INSOP International Soil Pollution Network are deeply concerned about the problems of Ukrainian soils and have been cooperating with Ukrainian soil scientists since 2023. In the report of the INSOP Chairman, Prof. Ravi Naidu Among the INSOP projects, the promising project “Military Contamination and its Impact on Soil Degradation and Fertility” for Ukraine and several other countries in the world with active military operations is mentioned. In addition, at the initiative of INSOP, a manual on the survey of contaminated soils was prepared and published on the FAO website in 2025. «Checklist for soil remediation» (FAO, 2025).
Presentations of the XIII Plenary Assembly of the GGP on the FAO website.
Photo gallery.
The information was prepared by the Institute's International Activities Coordinator Arkady LEVIN.
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