ITPS | 10th Working Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils. 13 - 17 May 2019 | FAO headquarters

1. Pillar 4 Information and
Data
Yusuf Yigini, Kostiantyn Viatkin, Isabel Luotto

2. Governance and Main ActorsPILLAR 4
• GSP PA - GSP Plenary Assembly (Reporting, Tasks)
• GSP Secretariat (Implementation, Facilitation)
• ITPS – Overall Technical Guidance, approval
• INSII - International Network of Soil Information Institutions
• P4WG - Pillar 4 Working Group (+IUSS GSM WG) (ITPS
Representative : Ms Calzolari)
• SDF - Soil Data Facility (ISRIC – 2017-2020, GloSIS Spatial Data
Infrastructure)

3. Pillar 4
• GloSIS Design
• GloSIS Vision: Conceptual design of the Global Soil Information
System infrastructure (Technical Specs - semi-final)
1.Tailored implementation – for
data holders with an existing SIS.
The data holder must implement
the GLOSIS data exchange
specification in its data services to
guarantee full interoperability.
2.Reference implementation –
for data holders that wish to setup
and populate their own SIS.
3.Support implementation – for
data holders lacking the resources,
knowledge or desire to set up and
maintain a SIS.

4. Pillar 4
• GloSIS Design
• Technical Specifications for Tier 1 and Tier 2 Soil Profile
Databases (semi-final)
• Tier 1 as a ‘comprehensive federated database’ with minimal
data requirements and no stringent requirements on data
quality or representativeness. Its objective is to provide access
to as many digital profile data as possible.
• Tier 2 as a subset of the Tier 1 database as a ‘world reference
database’ with well-described and analyzed profiles with
thematic subsets of minimal required data, harmonized and
quality-assessed.
• Global Soil Data Exchange Model (Pillar 5)
• (Status: feasibility of existing standards, development of GloSIS Data Exchange
Model)

5. Pillar 4
• GSOCmap Global Soil Organic Carbon Map >>> V1.0 (ITPS2) >>> V1.2.0 (ITPS2)
>>> V1.5 (ITPS3)
• GSERmap- Global Soil Erosion Map, 3-level approach for a harmonised
product
• Sensitivity to erosion -> Erosion risk -> Monitoring
• GSOCseq Global Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration Potential Map, multi-
stage country-driven process supervised and guided by the ITPS and
international expert groups
• Using RothC process-based modelling
• GSSmap Global Soil Salinity Map, methodology and technical specs being
developed
• Using EC (TSS) as the main indicator of salinity, number of predictors as covariates
including relevant indicators
• SoilSTAT Detailed Concept Note Ready
• Raster based reporting unit, priority indicators, connected with FAOSTAT
GloSIS Data Products – 2019 2020

6. GSOCmapGlobal Soil Organic Carbon Map

7. Pillar 4 – GSOCmap 2019
• Dissemination (Policy world, scientific community, General
Public)
• Scientific Articles
• Policy Brief & GSOCmap Interpretation
• Updated Version, V1.5.0 to be launched soon
• 30+ new/improved national, regional SOC maps
• Global Validation Campaign (to be started)
• Web Services, Technical Report, Metadata DB to be updated
accordingly
• Encouraging countries to use their GSOCmap contributions
for reporting
To do list 2019 – GSP Sec & ITPS

8. GSOCmap v1.5.0

9. GSOCmap v1.2
Germany - 3300 Samples, Geomatching

10. GSOCmap v1.5
Germany - 5000 Samples, Geomatching

11. Congo + DR CONGO - GSP Gap Filling
GSOCmap v1.2

12. Congo + DR CONGO - Improved with National Data
GSOCmap v1.5

13. GHANA - Country Submission
GSOCmap v1.2

14. GHANA – Improved BD
GSOCmap v1.5

15. GSERmapG l o b a l S o i l E ro s i o n M a p

16. Pillar 4 - GSERmap
• First Phase Products: Development of global maps
describing the potential land sensitivity to soil erosion by
water, wind and tillage based on globally uniform datasets.
• Second phase products: National scale maps describing soil
erosion risk to the best of the country knowledge, available
methods and input data. This can be done by combining the
harmonized global soil erosion sensitivity maps with high
detail national information on land use, land management
practices.
• Third Phase: Monitoring Sites based on the data products
generated in Phase1-2

17. Pillar 4 - GSERmap
• First Phase Products: Development of global maps
describing the potential land sensitivity to soil erosion by
water, wind and tillage based on globally uniform datasets.
• Second phase products: National scale maps describing soil
erosion risk to the best of the country knowledge, available
methods and input data. This can be done by combining the
harmonized global soil erosion sensitivity maps with high
detail national information on land use, land management
practices.
• Third Phase: Monitoring Sites based on the data products
generated in Phase1-2
Status: Working Document is ready to be discussed during the
Symposium, Detailed Concept and Tech Specs Afterwards

18. GSSmapGlobal Soil Salinity Map

19. Pillar 4 - GSSmap
• Novel methods available but pragmatic simplified approach
needed
• Data availability,
• EC will be the main indicator for Soil Salinity + pH, SAR
• DSM will be proposed (Ground data + Predictors including
relevant indices from RS Data)
• Depth?
• 0-30, 30-60, 60-90
• 0-50, 50-100
• Topsoil only
Status: Concept Note is Ready, Technical Specs being developed
Challenge & to do list

20. Pillar 4 - GSSmap
Status: Concept Note is Ready, Technical Specs being developed
Soil Salinity Class
Conductivity of the Saturation Extract
(dS/m)
Non saline 0 - 2
Slightly saline 2 - 4
Moderately saline 4 - 8
Strongly saline 8 - 16
Very strongly saline > 16

21. Pillar 4 - GSSmap
Status: Concept Note is Ready, Technical Specs being developed
• Spatial Entity
• Volumetric grid cell (Voxel)
• Horizontal Resolution: 1x1 km (30 arc-
seconds – WGS84) Raster national grids
• Vertical Dimension : Depth Slices
Overview: Proposed Technical Specs
50cm
50cm
EC

22. Pillar 4 - GSSmap
Status: Concept Note is Ready, Technical Specs being developed
• Prediction
• DSM
• Uncertainty Quantification: Upper and
lower 95% Confidence Interval
• Validation Statistics: RMSE
Overview: Proposed Technical Specs
50cm
50cm
EC, SAR

23. Pillar 4 - GSSmap
Status: Concept Note is Ready, Technical Specs being developed
• Metadata
• Ground Data
• Timestamp
• Measurement Methods
• Units
• depths
• Spatial reference
• …
• Modelling
• Methods
• Model Parameters
• Validation Stats
• …
Overview: Proposed Technical Specs

24. SoilSTAT

25. SoilSTAT
• Detailed Concept Note, GSP PA 7th
• Initial discussions with the FAO Statistics Group
SoilSTAT is the statistics component of the Global Soil Partnership’s Global Soil
Information System (GloSIS) and the tool for monitoring global soil resources. The GSP
and its partners will design SoilSTAT and populate it as with harmonized, interoperable
national soil indicators. The name of the system mirrors the FAOSTAT family of global-
status databases used for monitoring.

26. SoilSTAT
Implementation 2019-2020
Indicator Rationale Frequen
cy
Unit
Soil Organic Matter
Decline
Soil Organic Carbon baseline (reference carbon stocks)
– GSOC map
Land use change and climate change as factors to
model or estimate trend
TBD tonnes.ha-1
classified
Soil Erosion 1.USLE with current management and climate
2.Models (e.g. Erosion 3D)
TBD tonnes ha.y-1 or classified
Soil Salinisation Salt Percentage, Electrical Conductivity (EC)
Natural salinity needs to be compared with salinization
(e.g. coastal sea water intrusions, irrigation, natural
processes)
TBD % and ds.m-1

27. SoilSTAT
Implementation - 2020-2022
Carbon Sequestration Potential Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration TBD tonnes.ha-1
Soil Sealing Sealed area (definition needed relative to total artificial
surface)
A baseline year needs to be decided.
TBD % of total land area
ha of net sealed
Soil Pollution Exceedance of thresholds for selected heavy metals
Thresholds need to be compiled
TBD Ppm
%
Soil Pollution Contaminated sites: number, type of site, type of main
pollutant
TBD number of sites, site category,
pollutants

28. SoilSTAT
Implementation 2022-2024
Soil Compaction Degraded pore volume in a defined depth, or
classified (e.g. vulnerability)
A baseline for non-compacted soils is needed.
TBD compaction classes
Soil Biodiversity
Decline
TBD TBD TBD
Acidification Soil Reaction (pH) TBD TBD

29. Pillar 4 - GSOCseq
• IPCC method will provide a first guide on attainable carbon
levels in the different regions using: the GSOCmap as a
base-line, and using harmonized global data sources.
• As a second stage, and taking into consideration expert
reviewers’ comments a coordinated and guided ‘Bottom-
up’, Level 2, modeling approach is proposed (RothC)
Status: Working Document is ready to be discussed during the Symposium

30. Pillar 4 - GSOCseq
Status: Tech Specs Ready to be finalised by the experts and approved by the ITPS

31. GSOCseq