This presentation was presented during the Asian Soil Partnership workshop that took place in Bangkok 14-16 December 2017. The presentation was made by Arwyn Jones from the european Commission, DG Joint Research Center http://www.fao.org/global-soil-partnership/en/

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The first ever
Soil Atlas of Asia
A partnership to raise awareness of a critical resource
SOIL ATLAS OF
ASIA

2. JRC Soil Atlas Series
In Collaboration with FAO/GSP

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Soils across Asia
• Highly varied in character and function
• Many are naturally fertile and highly
productive
• Large parts of Asia have major constraints on
soil development
• Human activity is putting pressure on soils
and related ecosystem services
• Exacerbated by climate change

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Aims of the atlas
• To raise the awareness of the general public, land
managers/owners, policy makers, politicians, NGOs and other
scientific communities of the importance of soil in Asia
• To support policies and instruments for Investment, Agriculture,
Environmental Issues, Climate Change, Development and Aid
Assistance, Urban Planning….
• To provide educational material to schools & universities to
support learning.
• Baseline for further assessments.

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Targets
• High quality reference work on the soils of Asia
• Informative, easy to read, graphically stimulating
• Not aimed at soil scientists!
• Written for general public, policy makers,
environmental science, educationalists, etc.
• Should lead to a better understanding and appreciation
of the importance of soil across Asia

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What do we
mean by Asia?

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Asia in FAO?
• Asian Soil Partnership: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei,
Cambodia, China, DPR Korea, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia,
Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of
Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Viet Nam
• FAO Asia Region: As above but includes Iran, Kazakhstan, Russian
Federation and Uzbekistan
• Asian countries in NENA Partnership: Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Jordan,
Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria,
United Arab Emirates and Yemen
• Israel, Tajikistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan ?

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Asia in EU?
• European Commission Development: Asia and Central Asia (but not
China, Japan and Russian Federation)
• Asia–Europe Meeting: EU + Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia,
China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, the Lao PDR,
Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, the
Philippines, the Russian Federation, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand and
Viet Nam

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Geographical Asia
• Asia is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the
Indian Ocean and on the north by the Arctic Ocean.
• The western boundary with Europe is a historical and cultural construct,
as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them.
• Most commonly accepted boundaries place Asia to the east of the Suez
Canal, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus
Mountains and the Caspian and Black Seas.
Wikipedia

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• Turkey covered by European Atlas
• Eurasia covered by Circumpolar Atlas
but Central Asia mostly missing

11. POSSIBLE OPTIONS
• Joint Partnership product for entire continent / broadest extent?
• Asian Soil Partnership + Central Asia?
• Change title to reflect focus on lesser extent? South, East, Southeast…
WikipediaWikipedia

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Approach: Maps
• Small scale datasets
• Base: JRC Soil Atlas +
Harmonized World Soil
Database (HWSD) + North-
Central Asia SOTER
• Updated, where possible by
country contributions
• Soil mapping units – use of
dominant soil types
• WRB 2015 for soil names
• Key properties: texture, pH,
organic carbon, water storage
capacity, etc. for soil
characteristics maps
Encyclopedia Britannica

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Look and feel of mapping
Overview map
Map spreads (c 1:3,000,000)
Explain soil distribution

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More than Maps

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CHAPTER 2: THE SOILS OF ASIA
• Introduction to soil classification
• Development of soil classification
in Asia
• Local soil classifications
• WRB: a harmonizing approach
• Major soil types of Asia
• Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats of
Reference Groups in Asian
context
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
• Scope of atlas
• What is soil
• The role and importance of soil
• Soil forming factors and the Asian
environment
• Soil forming processes
• Soil functions
• Soil assessment/land evaluation
Draft structure

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CHAPTER 4: GEOGRAPHICAL
VIEW
• Arctic, Tundra, Forest, Steppe,
Semi-Desert, Desert,
Mediterranean, Subtropical
Monsoon, Equitorial, Mountains,
Coastal, etc.
CHAPTER 5: ISSUES AFFECTING
SOILS IN ASIA
• Land management, climate
change, erosion, pollution,
sealing,….
CHAPTER 3: SOIL MAPS
• Soil mapping in Asia
• Legend
• Index to map sheets
• Overview map
• Regional scale soil maps
• Examples of medium and large
scale soil maps
• Maps of key soil properties
• GIS, databases, DSM, etc

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CHAPTER 6: MEASURES TO
COMBAT SOIL DEGRADATION
CHAPTER 7: NATIONAL
SUMMARIES
• Short overview of soil resources
and critical issues per country –
standard format
CHAPTER 8: POLICIES,
EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
CHAPTER 9: CONCLUDING
STATEMENTS
ANNEXES
• Glossary
• Further reading
• Contacts
• About the EC-JRC, FAO and
GSP

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Physical product
Final product: hard cover book 176 A3 pages (target)
= A2 Map Sheets
Examples
http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/content/soil-map-soil-atlas-africa
http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/content/global-soil-biodiversity-atlas
http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/content/soil-atlas-latin-america
Physical book/Downloadable pdf (free)
• Low cost (€25) but mostly free!
• High-level political and scientific launch event
around 2019?

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Collaborative initiative
Joint publication by JRC and FAO-GSP with input from
scientists from Asia, Europe and other regions
• Establishment of Editorial Board to coordinate
contributions
• Kick-off meeting: planned 2017 Q1
• Average production cycle for atlas: 3 years
• High quality graphics (photographs, illustrations)

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• Alternative language versions
• EBook/Kindle versions
• Soils of Asia Wall Chart, fridge magnets,
puzzles, etc.
• Input to soil resource assessments
SWSR 2020, World Soil Day events
Spin off products

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Thank you for your attention
NASA "Blue Marble"

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I think the key issues to sort out are:
 what extent of Asia should we follow given the
diverse use of the term;
 what data are there to produce the base mapping
 a list of key contacts from each country to help
solicit contributions.
Personally I would try to encourage either the
broadest extent or the countries of the ASP + the
Central Asian Republics.
I would encourage people to look at the Africa/Soil
Biodiversity/Latin America Atlases as a model.