This file describes the main interactions between the National Soil Maps of National Atlas of Mexico 2022, which is based in the National Soil Information and Monitoring System (SNIMS 2023).

1. NATIONAL ATLAS OF MEXICO 2022
KEY INTERACTIONS BETWEEN NATIONAL SOIL MAPS
NATIONAL AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF MEXICO
March 7, 2022

2. Mexico has 140,000 study sites with soil data obtained by official and private organizations through
various methodological processes and cartographic formats. Most of them are public and free by law but
not always available.
Since 1968, Mexico's soil data infrastructure has been in a constant process of harmonization and
updating by different academic institutions and government agencies for its integration into the National
Soil Information and Monitoring System (SNIMS 2023).
KEY POINTS FOR THE SPECIALIZED TECHNICAL REVIEW BY NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE

3. Currently, this System supplies the data and information necessary to generate the National Soil Maps in
the National Atlas of Mexico 2022.
The National Soil Maps of the Atlas of Mexico 2022 are organically related and have the objective of better
representing the properties, processes, and factors that determine the degradation or recovery of soils.
KEY POINTS FOR THE SPECIALIZED TECHNICAL REVIEW BY NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE

4. How are the Soil Maps organized in the
National Atlas of Mexico 2022?
The maps are organized in the current logic of the National System of Information and
Monitoring of Soils 2023.

6. ONE OF THE MAIN
OBJECTIVES OF THE
INFORMATION CONTAINED
IN NATIONAL SOIL MAPS IS
TO SUPPORT PUBLIC
POLICIES AND SPECIFIC
ACTIONS THAT CONTROL
OR REVERSE LAND
DEGRADATION.

7. THIS IS POSSIBLE WITH AN
INFORMATION AND
MONITORING SYSTEM THAT
ASSESSES AND CONTROLS
THE MAIN INDICATORS AND
RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH
DEGRADATION.

8. THIS EVALUATION CAN BE
CONSISTENT IF AND ONLY IF WE
DIFFERENTIATE THE EFFECT OF
NATURAL PROCESSES AND THE
EFFECT OF NON-NATURAL
PROCESSES.
FURTHERMORE, IT ALWAYS IS
IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER THAT
THESE EFFECTS ARE RELATED TO
THE PHENOMENON OF CLIMATE

9. IN NATURAL PROCESSES,
EVALUATION DEPENDS ON
PERIODIC REGISTRATION OF
THE PROPERTIES OF THE SOIL,
THE CONDITIONS OF THE
CLIMATE, AND THE
MORPHOGENETIC
ENVIRONMENTS. NATURAL
PROCESSES REPRESENT THE
BASELINE BEFORE

10. THE ASSESSMENT OF NON-
NATURAL PROCESSES IS
MORE COMPLEX THAN
NATURAL PROCESSES
BECAUSE THEY DEPEND ON
MULTIPLE PRACTICES AND
VERY DYNAMIC PHENOMENA,
WITH CHANGES OF
MAGNITUDE AND
SIGNIFICANTLY VARIABLE

11. THEREFORE IT IS NECESSARY
TO SEPARATE EACH
DEGRADATION OR RECOVERY
PROCESS.SOME OF THEM, SUCH
AS CONTAMINATION, EROSION,
OR LOSS OF ORGANIC CARBON,
ARE MORE COMPLEX TO
EVALUATE BECAUSE THEY
DEPEND ON SEPARATE
INFORMATION MODULES.

12. FORTUNATELY, THERE ARE
CONSISTENT AND
COMPARABLE REFERENCE
SYSTEMS, AS WELL AS A
GROWING DATA
INFRASTRUCTURE THAT
ALLOWS A GOOD
CARTOGRAPHIC
DEVELOPMENT OF SOIL IN

13. We remain attentive to questions and thanks
for the collaboration
Coordinating Team of the National Atlas of Mexico 2022.