News

Dec 5^th, is World Soil Day with a theme of  ‘Caring for the planet starts from the ground’

Specific attention is being given this year to the role soil organic carbon in mitigating the effects of climate change, with The Global Soil Organic Carbon map (GSOC) (0-30 cm, 1 km spatial resolution) being unveiled by the UN-FAO.

The GSOC map is essential for the assessment of soils in relation to their degradation and role in climate change mitigation and adaptation and will periodically be updated as national contributors continue to refine their maps.

Contributing a Canadian map to the GSOC was the first project undertaken by the Canadian Digital Soil Mapping Working Group group, which includes Dr. Brandon Heung, Faculty of Agriculture at Dalhousie University.  

Also this week on the topic of international efforts on climate change, and the link to soil management and soil carbon dynamics in agricultural systems, Dr. Derek Lynch, Faculty of Agriculture, will be participating in a panel discussion at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on ‘Nature-based solutions to climate mitigation and resilience’ as part of a two-day Northeastern North America policy summit entitled ‘Together in Climate Action’ (http://climatesummit.mit.edu).

The two-day policy summit brings together speakers from Eastern Canada and the Northeastern US.

The GSOC project was launched by the Global Soil Partnership (http://www.fao.org/world-soil-day/global-soil-organic-carbon-map/en/).

The Canadian Digital Soil Mapping Working Group (http://www.soilsofcanada.ca/digital-soil-mapping/working-group.php), is affiliated with the Canadian Society of Soil Science and is tasked with the development, coordination and distribution of digital soil information for the country. The team consists of researchers from various federal agencies (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canadian Forest Service), provincial agencies and academic institutions (Simon Fraser University, University of Saskatchewan, University of Guelph and Dalhousie University)