Ninth Working Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS), 10 ‐ 12 October 2018, FAO HQ, Rome, Italy

1. Isabelle Verbeke
GSP Secretariat
Awareness raising,
International awards and
World Soil Day

2. • Keep up the soil momentum by maintaining soils high on the global
agenda;
• Convey the FAO message on the importance of soil
quality for food security, healthy ecosystems and
human well-being;
Objective:
Raise awareness & advocate for sustainable soil management;
• Encourage all stakeholders around the world to
engage in improving soil health.

3. • World Soil Day every 5th December (and now World Soil
Day Award);
• Glinka World Soil Prize;
• Global Symposia;
• Awareness Raising throughout the year with development
of various material
• Meetings, trainings regional workshops and international
conferences worldwide;
Pillar II
Key activities:
GSP communication

4. • PUBLICATIONS
• SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIA
• COMMUNICATION
TOOLKITS
• VIDEOS & ANIMATIONS
• WEBSITES & PORTALS
• NEWSLETTERS AND
ANNOUNCEMENTS
• WEB STORIES
• HIGHLIGHTS
• SOCIAL MEDIA
• OFFICIAL SPEECHES
• PRESS RELEASES
• TECHNICAL ARTICLES
• PHOTO GALLERIES
Communication channels
targeting different audiences

5. • GLOBAL SOIL PARTNERSHIP: http://www.fao.org/global-soil-partnership/en/
• FAO SOILS PORTAL: http://www.fao.org/soils-portal/en/
• WORLD SOIL DAY: http://www.fao.org/world-soil-day/en/
• INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF SOIL: http://www.fao.org/soils-2015/en/
• GLOBAL SYMPOSIUM ON SOIL ORGANIC CARBON
http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/soil-organic-carbon-symposium/en/
• GLOBAL SYMPOSIUM ON SOIL POLLUTION
http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/global-symposium-on-soil-pollution/en/
Websites:
Yearly, we reach over
2.000.000 views
SOILS PORTAL + GSP/WSD WEBSITE

7. Soils are essential to improve
nutrition
Good health starts with nutrition…If
we feed the soil, it will feed us
Soils are essential to achieve
food security and eradicate
hunger
Soils are the foundation of
agriculture, it is where food begins
Soils are essential to provide
clean water
The water we drink is purified by
soils. Let’s minimize contamination
and give our soils only what they
need
Soils are essential to preserve
biodiversity
Soils provide one of the largest
reservoirs of biodiversity on earth,
hosting a quarter of our planet’s
biodiversity
Soils are essential to mitigate
and adapt to climate change
Healthy soils are our silent allies to
combat climate change
Soils are essential to reduce
forced migration
Without healthy soils people can’t
produce their food and are forced to
migrate to feed themselves and
their families
WSD Communication campaign 2017:

8. WSD celebrations reached record high with 35% increase
People gathered at over 200 events
This year 88 countries celebrated WSD
22 new countries touched by the WSD campaign
Inaugurations of soil labs, soil painting competitions, soil
experiments
3 official events in New York, Rome, Nairobi a

10. FAO HQ | Rome | Italy
UN HQ | New York | USA
UNEA-3 | Nairobi | Kenya

11. OUTREACH
Figures and statistics:
FAO Facebook and Twitter

12. Press releases and newspapers:

13. More than 700 articles between 7-15 December
Including 120 specifically focusing on the GSOC map
Wsd17

14. • Official WSD poster in various formats;
• WSD Logo (in several languages);
• Megabanner (standard formats);
• T-shirts and gadgets;
• Factsheets, leaflets, flyers; posters;
infographics; postcards
• Videos and Educational material;
• Web banners & Buttons;
• Activities’ booklets.
• … and many more to come
WSD18 | Communication material:

15. wsd17
www.fao.org/world-soil-day/campaign-materials/en/
WSD18 website
Available in the 6 UN official languages

16. Already available online

17. • Nominees are individuals / organizations;
• Achievements contributed to GSP pillars;
• Impact in the field;
• GSP Partners nominate candidate
• NO self-nominations
18 applications received
15 eligible
NOW in the hand of
the Selection Committee
awards change-makers dedicated to solving
soil degradation issues worldwide
Glinka World Soil Prize

18. To give recognition to institutions that
organize the best WSD celebrations in
accordance with the yearly theme
Who can apply?
• Individuals
• Institutions
• NGOs
• Academia
• Colleges
• Universities
• Any other
World Soil Day Award
Event to take place between 1 -
15 Dec. of the previous year

19. • Facilitate WSD outstanding events, disseminate WSD campaign
material and promote the World Soil Day Award & Glinka prize
• Help us translate material in non official languages;
• Disseminate our newsletter and special announcements;
• Share with us any mailing list of potential new subscribers;
• Suggest and look for new partners & civil society
associations;
• Help out to increase contact with scientific press to increase the
number of ITPS/GSP scientific publications;
… and contact us if you have proposals
or ideas to improve outreach
How you can help us ?