The Global Soil Partnership for Food Security and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation (GSP) brings together international, regional and national organizations that are working in the area of soil protection and sustainable management.
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Global Soil Partnership (GSP)
Launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome on 7 September 2011, the Partnership aims to implement the provisions of the 1982 World Soil Charter, and to raise awareness and motivate action by decision-makers on the importance of soils for food security and climate change adaptation and mitigation.
The IAEA is participating in the Global Soil Partnership because nuclear science and technology have an important role to play in efficient soil and water management. For example, isotopic techniques are used to assess and gather data about various elements in soil, water and plants. The information can then be used to formulate strategies for efficient water and fertilizer usage, and to determine appropriate agricultural management practices that improve crop production while preventing soil degradation. This enables farmers to practice agriculture in a sustainable manner.
In addition, the IAEA uses nuclear techniques to help countries develop drought resilient crops for improved agricultural productivity, and to calculate the precise amount of water and fertilizer required for optimum harvests.
Through its technical cooperation (TC) programme, the IAEA is carrying out projects to improve soil and water management in more than 20 countries around the world. Projects range from ensuring sustainable increases in crop production in Afghanistan to improving irrigation in Ecuador, from sustaining soil fertility in Mozambique to developing biosaline agriculture in Qatar, and from using environmental radionuclides as indicators of land degradation in Latin American, Caribbean and Antarctic ecosystems to developing soil conservation strategies for improved soil health in Tajikistan.
