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Amir Kassam <[log in to unmask]>
Sat, 8 Sep 2018 20:29:22 +0100
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*Global CA-CoP* *CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE*

*for sustainable agriculture and land management*

Dear Subscribers,

Please see herebelow the IUSS Alert 158 (August 2018) from the IUSS.

Apologies for any cross-posting.

*Amir Kassam *

*Moderator*

e-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL: www.fao.org/ag/ca



*Conservation Agriculture is an ecosystem approach to sustainable
agriculture and land management based on the practical application of
locally adapted  three interlinked principles of: (i) Continuous no or
minimum mechanical soil disturbance (no-till seeding/planting and weeding,
and minimum soil disturbance with all other farm operations including
harvesting);  (ii) permanent maintenance of soil much cover (crop biomass,
stubble and cover crops); and (iii) diversification of cropping system
(environmentally, environmentally and socially adapted rotations and/or
sequences and/or associations involving annuals and perennials, including
legumes and cover crops), along with other complementary good agricultural
production and land management practices. Conservation Agriculture systems
are present in all continents, involving rainfed and irrigated systems
including annual cropland systems, perennial systems, orchards and
plantation systems, agroforestry systems, crop-livestock systems, organic
production systems and rice-based systems* (more at: www.fao.org/ag/ca).

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: The International Union of Soil Sciences - IUSS <
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Date: Wed, Sep 5, 2018 at 8:46 PM
Subject: IUSS Alert 158 (August 2018)
To: Amir Kassam <[log in to unmask]>



If you have problems reading this content - please follow this link to the
IUSS page <http://iuss.boku.ac.at/index.php?article_id=696>

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IUSS Alert 158 (August 2018)

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We are sorry, but due to holiday reasons this Alert could be sent out just
today.

21st World Congress of Soil Science in Rio was a success

The *IUSS thanks the Brazilian organisers* of this Congress, in particular
the Brazilian Soil Science Society, Flavio Camargo as Chairman of this
congress and his team for setting up the wonderful frame for this big soil
event, adjusting it to ad-hoc needs, as well as the 4,234 registered
participants who contributed with their 648 oral and 1608 poster
presentations and discussions to the success of this congress.

The *Soil Judging Contest* which took place on the three days before the
congress saw a tough competition between 12 teams and 48 individuals
respectively; the winners were awarded during the impressive *Opening
ceremony* of the congress on Sunday, August 12.

During the 21st World Congress of Soil Science, eight conferences with
highly renowned scientists and authorities were held, with subjects related
to the event *theme – Soil Science: beyond food and fuel*. In addition,
there were also 73 conferences in 16 Interdivisional Symposia, 75
divisional symposia and 15 IUSS working group symposia, plus 3 poster
sessions and 5 Technical & Innovation Symposia.

During the Gala Dinner on Thursday, August 16, the *Award Ceremony* was
held in which the IUSS award winners 2018, the new IUSS Honorary members,
the outgoing officers of the IUSS Executive Committee and the people
supporting the congress organisation were acknowledged.

In the *Exhibition* of the congress the IUSS was represented at booth no
32. A lot of participants informed themselves about the organisation of IUSS,
in particular young researchers, others looked into the books of the IUSS
book series or discussed past and future activities.

The *Closing ceremony* on Friday, August 17 provided a resume of the
congress, an outlook to the next WCSS in 2022 in Glasgow, an explanation of
the global soil icon and an outlook on global issues which require
translating soil science and its major discoveries into action.

The *Programme* of the congress can be downloaded as pdf document from the
WCSS website. The *Proceedings* of the 21st WCSS with the abstracts of the
2,256 papers, presented orally or as poster will be available for download
on the 21st WCSS homepage soon.

Read more: https://www.21wcss.org/

_____________________________________________________________________________

IUSS participates in ICSU Grant Project “TROP-ICSU” – latest news

TROP-ICSU stands for Trans-disciplinary Research Oriented Pedagogy for
Improving Climate Studies and Understanding. Teachers and educators can now
visit the TROP ICSU website to access and use more than 20 detailed lesson
plans that integrate the teaching of a topic in a specific discipline with
a topic in climate science or climate change:
https://tropicsu.org/resources/lesson-plans/all-lesson-plans/

Following a preliminary survey among educators on Teaching Toolkits for
school and undergraduate teachers (educators) to understand how topics
related to climate change are currently discussed in the classroom in
different parts of the world, to which IUSS contributed, it is planned to
provide more information to educators about the project and the materials
it provides and to do a teachers training (most probably in autumn 2018).
Furthermore, climate change tools considering soil information will be
explored and can still be included in the tool collection. If you know such
tools, please let us know by email to [log in to unmask]

If you want to participate in the online survey among educators, this is
still possible: https://tropicsu.org/educators-survey/

Read more: https://tropicsu.org/

_____________________________________________________________________________

Richard Murray Lark to receive IUSS Richard Webster Medal

The Pedometrics Committee on Prizes and Awards is pleased to announce the
award of the Richard Webster Medal 2014 of the International Union of Soil
Sciences (IUSS), to be awarded at the 21st World Congress of Soil Science (
WCSS) in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in August 2018. This medal recognizes the
person who has most advanced pedometrics in the period between the IUSS WCSS
of 2014 and 2018, while also considering achievements prior to that period.

The Medal is awarded to Professor Richard Murray Lark, chair in
Geoinformatics at the University of Nottingham (UK). Professor Lark is
internationally recognized as an outstanding pedometrician. He has devoted
most of his professional career to elucidating the complexity of soil
distribution in the landscape and to describing it quantitatively. He has
applied advanced statistical techniques and developed new ones for the
purpose and to map the soil’s properties for land management.

[By David G Rossiter, Chair Pedometrics Committee on Prizes and Awards for
2014-2017]

_____________________________________________________________________________

Hidenori Wada (1928 – 2018)

It is with deep sadness that I inform you that Dr Hidenori Wada passed away
August 7, 2018, 90 years old. He was Professor of Soil Science, at the
University of Tokyo, and first Chairman of the Paddy Soil Working Group,
ISSS (IUSS) when it was established in 1990. He was also President of the
Japanese Society of Soil Microbiology as well as being a keen soil
micro-morphologist since he studied in Belgium. After retiring from the
University of Tokyo, he was a JICA expert to stay in Khon Kaen, Thailand,
to help develop countermeasures to the soil salinity problem there.

We all miss Dr Hidenori Wada contributing to soil science, his smiles and
warm thoughts. Recalling the many fond memories of the past, we pray that
his soul may rest in peace.

[By Kazuyuki INUBUSHI, chair of IUSS Division 2]

_____________________________________________________________________________

General News
Launch of the Brazilian-Portuguese version of the Soil Atlas of Latin
America and the Caribbean – Atlas de solos da AMÉRICA LATINA e do CARIBE

The European Commission—Joint Research Centre (JRC) launched the “Atlas de
solos da AMÉRICA LATINA e do CARIBE” during the 21st world Congress of Soil
Science (21WCSS) in Rio, Brazil. The launch event took place in
collaboration with FAO at the beginning of the conference. Around 2,000
printed copies were distributed during the conference.

Read more: https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/content/soil-atlas-latin-america

_____________________________________________________________________________

Predicting soil organic carbon in agroecosystems under climate change

Soil organic carbon is an important component of soil health in
agroecosystems. It can affect crop yields and also serves as a carbon sink.
However, changes in climate will likely alter soil organic carbon dynamics.
Understanding this relationship between changes in climate and soil organic
carbon is important for soil scientists, agronomists, crop breeders, and
farmers. An upcoming issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality (JEQ)
will include a special section on this topic. The impacts of future changes
in temperature and precipitation patterns on agricultural production are
unknown, so there is a need to find the best agriculture management
practices to maintain or increase soil organic carbon to improve
agroecosystem resiliency against extreme weather.

Read more:
https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/content/Predicting-Soil-Organic-Carbon-Agroecosystems-under-Climate-Change

[From: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Science Policy Report, 8 August, 2018]

_____________________________________________________________________________

This city’s buried treasure isn’t under the dirt. It is the dirt.

While air pollution and spoiled waterways are the most visibly threatened
environmental resources, the soils that lie beneath our feet have lately
been receiving some long overdue attention as well — especially in the New
York metropolitan area, which scientists say sits on top of some of the
best soil on the continent. Degraded soils are a big concern in New York,
where lead contamination levels can be high. For much of the 20th century,
soil excavated at construction sites was regarded as toxic waste and sent
for disposal outside the city. But dirt, suddenly, is somewhat glamorous
and New York City has been leading this reassessment.

Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/25/nyregion/the-citys-buried-treasure-isnt-under-the-dirt-it-is-the-dirt.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

[From: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Science Policy Report, 8 August, 2018]

_____________________________________________________________________________

The soil science imperative

Any thriving natural or agricultural ecosystem begins with soil. And how we
choose to manage soil impacts not just the amount and quality of food we
produce, but whether we exacerbate or mitigate climate change, and the
health of the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on which life depends. The
last few years have seen a growing recognition of the importance of
soil—from movements to expand small-scale farming, to global efforts to
improve soil in industrial agriculture, to strategies to boost the role of
soil in mitigating climate change. Soil science can be a driving force for
achieving sustainable development when it responds directly to the needs of
practitioners and decision-makers from local to national and global scales.

Read more:
https://global.nature.org/content/the-soil-science-imperative?utm_campaign=social.nature&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=1533154405

[From: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Science Policy Report, 8 August, 2018]

_____________________________________________________________________________

Biodegradation of synthetic polymers in soils: Tracking carbon into CO2 and
microbial biomass

Plastic materials are widely used in agricultural applications to achieve
food security for the growing world population. The use of biodegradable
instead of non-biodegradable polymers in single-use agricultural
applications, including plastic mulching, promises to reduce plastic
accumulation in the environment. We present a novel approach that allows
tracking of carbon from biodegradable polymers into CO2 and microbial
biomass. The approach is based on 13C-labeled polymers and on
isotope-specific analytical methods, including nanoscale secondary ion mass
spectrometry (NanoSIMS). Our results unequivocally demonstrate the
biodegradability of poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT), an
important polyester used in agriculture, in soil. Carbon from each monomer
unit of PBAT was used by soil microorganisms, including filamentous fungi,
to gain energy and to form biomass. This work advances both our conceptual
understanding of p olymer biodegradation and the methodological
capabilities to assess this process in natural and engineered environments.

Read more: http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/7/eaas9024

_____________________________________________________________________________

Understanding soil through its microbiome – First global survey of soil
genomics reveals a war between fungi and bacteria

Soil is full of life, essential for nutrient cycling and carbon storage. To
better understand how it functions, an international research team led by
EMBL and the University of Tartu (Estonia) conducted the first global study
of bacteria and fungi in soil. Their results show that bacteria and fungi
are in constant competition for nutrients and produce an arsenal of
antibiotics to gain an advantage over one another. The study can also help
predict the impact of climate change on soil, and help us make better use
of natural soil components in agriculture. Nature published the results on
1 August 2018.

Read more:
https://news.embl.de/science/understanding-soil-through-its-microbiome/

_____________________________________________________________________________

Manure slipping through (soil) cracks

Excess nutrients from farms can be transported to groundwater reservoirs by
water starting at the surface and flowing through soil. But the flow of
water through soil is a “highly dynamic process,” says Genevieve Ali, a
researcher at the University of Manitoba. “It can vary from year to year,
season to season, or even rainstorm to rainstorm.” It can also fluctuate
depending on soil type and even if organic additions, like manure, are
applied. Ali is lead author of a new study that shows water infiltrates
deeper into cracking clay (vertisolic soils) when liquid hog manure is
applied. The study also showed that even though water infiltration went
deeper in the presence of manure, it did not reach depths of 39 inches (100
cm). That’s how deep tile drains—designed to remove excess subsurface
water—are typically installed in the study region.

Read more:
https://www.soils.org/discover-soils/story/manure-slipping-soil-cracks

_____________________________________________________________________________

ESB Earthworm Identikit

The Earthworm Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (ESB) aims to
promote and support scientific research so that earthworms and their
environment can be better understood. Through its work the society aims to
encourage the conservation of earthworms and their habitats. The ESB
Earthworm Identikit provides five identification tools. The first is a
multi-access key tailored specifically for UK earthworms. The second is
also a multi-access key, but it emphasises different features and
photographs are also accessible from this key. The third – the Circle Pack
Key – allows you to explore the distribution of morphological features
across different earthworm genera. The fourth – a side by side comparison
tool – allows you to directly compare features from two or more different
species of earthworms and also to compare photographs where they exist.

http://www.earthwormsoc.org.uk/fullscreen/earthwormkey

_____________________________________________________________________________

Conferences, Meetings and Workshops2019
SUITMA 10 – Soils of Urban, Industrial, Traffic, Mining and Military Areas

June 16-21, 2019, Seoul, Korea. On behalf of the organizing committee, it
is our great pleasure to invite you to the 10th conference of the IUSS
Working Group on Soils of Urban, Industrial, Traffic, Mining and Military
Areas (SUITMA10). The theme of SUITMA10 is *SUITMA+20*; visioning the
future by reflecting on 20 years of SUITMA since its birth in 1998. SUITMA
has progressed significantly. Sincere enthusiasm in sharing knowledge with
its membership family is the ongoing legacy from its founding fathers.
Understanding the properties, functioning, impacts and long-term evolution
of soils from major human influences has given insights to the role of
anthropogenic change whilst enabling improved management of urban
ecosystems.

Abstract submission deadline: January 31, 2019

Read more: http://www.suitma10.org

_____________________________________________________________________________

Wageningen Soil Conference 2019 – Understanding soil functions

August 27 – 30, 2019, Wageningen, the Netherlands. Wageningen University &
Research is delighted to invite you to join us at the fourth edition of the
Wageningen Soil Conference. As in previous editions, the aim is to discuss
the importance of soils. In the 2019 edition, the focus will be on
“Understanding soil functions: from ped to planet”. To do this we will
adopt a new style of conference, with traditional conference talks in the
mornings, followed by a range of scientific and interactive topic workshops
in the afternoons.

Website:
https://www.wur.nl/en/Research-Results/Projects-and-programmes/Wageningen-Soil-Conference-2019.htm

_____________________________________________________________________________

New publications
World Atlas of Desertification – Rethinking land degradation and
sustainable land management

Publication by Joint Research Centre (European Commission), August 8, 2018.
256 pages, A3 format, ISBN 978-92-79-75350-3 (Printed version), ISBN
978-92-79-75349-7 (Online version), price: for free.

The third edition of the World Atlas of Desertification (WAD3) takes a
fresh look at land degradation – a phenomenon triggered by human land use
that is likely to threaten our ability to make productive use of the Earth
while still maintaining the critical global environmental goods and
services in the future. WAD3 offers an information framework from which to
identify the nature of potential problems and pursue solutions that conform
to local conditions. The two decades since publication of WAD2 saw a
tremendous growth in our understanding of coupled-human and natural
systems, and an overwhelming increase in global environmental datasets and
analytical tools. Building on these advances, WAD3 portrays the dynamic
human footprint on Earth and its consequences for the land resources. WAD3
identifies areas of concern where multiple lines of evidence converge that
suggest potential problems so that they might be confirmed and suggest
actions to reverse, arrest, or adapt to them.

You can order the printed atlas from the EU Bookshop
https://publications.europa.eu/en/web/general-publications/publications
or download the atlas here: https://wad.jrc.ec.europa.eu/

_____________________________________________________________________________

Soil and Climate

Edited by Rattan Lal and B. A. Stewart. 1st Edition published in the series
Advances in Soil Science, August 30, 2018 by CRC Press. 434 Pages – 86 B/W
Illustrations, ISBN 9781498783651, price hardback GBP 145.00, ebook GBP
35.99.
Climate is a soil-forming factor and soil can mitigate climate change
through a reduction in the emissions of greenhouse gases and sequestration
of atmospheric CO2. Thus, there is a growing interest in soil management
practices capable of mitigating climate change and enhancing environmental
quality. Soil and Climate addresses global issues through soil management
and outlines strategies for advancing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Special topics on soil as a source or sink of CO2, silicate weathering and
carbon sequestration, nutrients required for carbon sequestration, physical
protection and the mean resident time, and predicting soil carbon stocks
are discussed in detail throughout the book.

Read more:
https://www.crcpress.com/Soil-and-Climate/Lal-Stewart/p/book/9781498783651

_____________________________________________________________________________

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