Fourth Working Session of the International Network of Soil Information Institutions (INSII) 6-8 November 2018 | FAO HQ – German Room, Rome, Italy

1. PILLAR 4
PROGRESS

2. GSP - Pillar 4
Pillar 4 of the GSP essentially addresses the
development of an enduring and authoritative
global system to monitor and forecast the
condition of the Earth’s soil resources.
PILLAR 1
PILLAR 2
PILLAR 3
PILLAR 5

3. Pillar 4 - Governance
The International Network of Soil Information
Institutions (INSII) forms the backbone of Pillar
4. The INSII network is supported by a
technical working group of soil information
experts (Pillar 4 Working Group).

4. Pillar 4 Working Group
• Chair: -Plenary 2019 - GSP Secretary: Ronald Vargas
• Coordination: Yusuf Yigini (GSP), Pillar 5 Chair: Rainer Baritz
• Soil Data Facility: Rik van den Bosch (ISRIC)
Africa: Christian Omuto
Asia: Toshiaki Ohkura
Europe: Edoardo Costantini
Eurasia: Laziza Gafurova
Central America: Renato J. Zúñiga
ITPS Representative: Costanza
Calzolari
South America: Guillermo Federico
Olmedo
Near East and North Africa: Rachid
Moussadek
North America: Bert VandenBygaart
South West Pacific: Mike Grundy

5. Pillar 4
Implementation Plan
• Based on the endorsed Plan
of Action.
• Developed by P4WG/INSII
• Provides the guidance to
build the global soil
information system
(GloSIS).

6. Pillar 4 >>> GloSIS
➔One of the flagship initiatives of the Global Soil Partnership
➔Owned by the member countries
➔Federated architecture
➔Co-operative design, actively involving all stakeholders
➔Supports countries in developing their own soil data and
information systems.
➔Develop and improve capacities at national level
Global Soil Partnership and member countries building a Global Soil
Information System (GloSIS) relying on national capacities and
national soil information systems.

7. GloSIS Implementation
➔Coordinated by GSP Secretariat and GSP Soil
Data Facility (SDF; ISRIC – World Soil
Information), with contributions from Pillar 4
Working Group, Pillar 5, soil information
experts.
➔Establishment of the federated (country-
driven) Global Soil Information System
(GLOSIS) in accordance with the approved
Pillar 4 Implementation Plan.

8. Data Products
• Soil profile databases (Tiered Approach – T1
T2)
• Global polygon coverage, to replace
FAO/UNESCO Soil Map of the World (1:5M,
1971-1980)
• Global Grids:
• Harmonized World Soil Database, HWSD V2
• Fine-resolution grid of soil properties, V0
• Fine resolution grid of soil properties, V1

9. Data Products
Soil Profile Databases – Tiered Approach
Tier 1 SPDB - This is a large soil profile and analytical
database for the world without the stringent requirement for
a minimum parameter set or representativeness which often
severely limits the number of available profiles.
The objective of such a database is to provide access to as
many digital profile data sets as possible.

10. Data Products
Soil Profile Databases – Tiered Approach
• Tier 2 SPDB - This is a “world reference-soil database”
containing well-described and analysed soil profiles.
• Tier 2 includes harmonized and quality-assured
morphological, physical and chemical data for soil
profiles which are globally representative of geographic
regions, major soil types.
Status > Technical specifications (draft completed, July 2018, SDF)

11. Data Products
Global Polygon Coverage and HWSD V2
• GPC - This product suits users requiring an overview of global soil
geography. The polygon map consists of discrete map units with
accompanying soil classification as well as soil properties at the map unit
level.
• HWSD2 - The current HWSD is v1.2 , the result of a collaboration
between the FAO with IIASA, ISRIC-World Soil Information, Institute of Soil
Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISSCAS), and the Joint Research
Centre of the European Commission (JRC). New regional soil data and
information available for updating the Harmonized World Soil Database
(HWSD).
Status > postponed

12. Data Products
Fine Resolution Soil Grids
• V0 - The fine-resolution grid Version 0 represents raster data sets
based on the up-scaling of validated, measured soil profiles in
conjunction with a large number of covariate layers that have some
relation to soil geography (e.g., DEM, terrain indices, vegetation
indices, soil polygon maps) and soil forming factors using digital soil
mapping techniques.

13. Data Products
Fine Resolution Soil Grids
V1 - The Version 0 grid, has the following differences from
the envisioned final Version 1 product:
• Not all the world is represented by national/regional
contributions to the v0 grid.
• The v0 grid is neither harmonized nor seamless.
• The Version 0 horizontal resolution (1km) is significantly
coarse compared to Version 1 (3x3 Arc-second, roughly
90 m).
Status > First V0 grid launched – Global Soil Organic Carbon GSOCmap

14. GSOCmap
➔1st ever country-driven soil organic carbon
assessment at global scale
➔Launched on the World Soil Day 2017
➔The process supported by the GSP Capacity
Development Programme, technical
documents, and communication materials.
➔Has brought State-of-the-art methods to
member countries into everyday practice

15. GSOCmap
Capacity Development Tool Box
Global Soil
Partnership Capacity
Development
Programme

16. GSOCmap Guidelines
• ...provides definitions and
specifications for the GSOCmap
products.
• This document provides
background and detailed
specifications about the
required data sources and
methodologies.
• The specifications were jointly
prepared with International
Network of Soil information
Institutions .

17. SOIL ORGANIC CARBON MAPPING COOKBOOK
PROVIDES GENERIC METHODOLOGIES AND
THE TECHNICAL GUIDANCE FOR:
• Setting up the needed software environment;
• Preparing ground data for soil organic carbon
modelling;
• Calculating SOC stocks from local samples to a target
depth of 30 cm;
• Preparing spatial covariates for mapping;
• Choosing and applying the best suitable mapping
methodology;
• Evaluating the results and the outputs and providing
guidance on validation and uncertainty assessments.

18. GSOCmap Training Sessions

20. GSOCmap Key Outcomes
➔The process proved the feasibility of the distributed approach;
➔Established trust and bond between member countries and the
FAO GSP;
➔The best available estimation of global SOC stocks;
➔National and regional expert knowledge well embedded and
applicable for reporting on national level;
➔Unveiled also the current status of the national soil information;
➔The map will help to shape policy and action towards climate
change mitigation, sequestering more carbon and protecting
carbon rich soils.

21. GSOCmap

22. Statistics component of the Global Soil Information System
(GLOSIS) and the tool for monitoring global soil resources.
The GSP and its partners will design SoilSTAT and the
system will be used for monitoring, forecasting and
reporting periodically on the status of global soil
resources. The name of the system mirrors the FAOSTAT
family.
STATUS > Concept Paper on the content and design
SoilSTAT

23. Thank You