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DISCUSSION No. 124


Online consultation for developing the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management

deadline extended until 7 March 2016





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Dear Colleagues,
Comments on the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management <http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/discussions/soilguidelines> keep coming and, following requests, we are happy to keep the consultation open until 7 March.
The Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils will meet soon after the closure of the consultation to analyse the inputs received and improve the draft of the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management (VGSSM).
Please find below the latest comments and a summary note prepared by the facilitators.
Participants are pointing out that soil is an integral part of all land- or landscape-based agroecosystems and must be managed at multiple levels. It is thus extremely important that the Guidelines are able to facilitate sustainable soil and land management in the context of the whole agroecosystem. Comments are also highlighting the need to focus on concrete actions and implementation of the Guidelines.
Comments are welcome both on the questions proposed in the topic note, available in English<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/discussions/soilguidelines>, French<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/fr/forum/discussions/soilguidelines> and Spanish,<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/es/forum/discussions/soilguidelines> and directly on the draft document which can be found on the webpage: www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/discussions/soilguidelines <http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/discussions/soilguidelines>
To participate you can either:
- register<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/user/register> to the FSN Forum here<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/user/register> and post online,
- send your comments to [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>.
Best regards.
The FSN Forum team





Ronald Vargas and Dan Pennock, facilitators of the discussion

Dear all,
We are grateful for the comments received to date. Our task as to compile the comments so that they can be fully considered by the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (when it meets in mid-March). They will review the comments and will prepare a first draft of the Voluntary Guidelines on Sustainable Soil Management based on these inputs. Therefore, we look forward to further comments so that all issues are well addressed by the different communities of soil users.
The following section briefly summarizes the comments received until the 19 February 2016. Subsequent contributors may wish to consult previous contributions to the Forum.
Read the facilitators' summary here<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/contributions/re-online-consultation-developing-voluntary-guidelines-sustainable-soil-manag-17>

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CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED

[cid:image003.png@01D16EFF.0FD5A2F0]Timothy Krupnik, CIMMYT, Bangladesh

Timothy suggests adding a section on easy to measure and monitor indicators of sustainable soil management that can be implemented by practitioners and including a toolbox of different methods that can be used to maintain and improve soil quality, in addition to CA and no-tillage. He also shares comments in track change on the draft. [...]
Read the contribution here <http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/contributions/re-online-consultation-developing-voluntary-guidelines-sustainable-soil-manag-18>



[cid:image003.png@01D16EFF.0FD5A2F0]Hernán Figueredo, Ministry of Rural Development and Land, Bolivia

Hernán shares suggestions on the structure and content of the guidelines. In particular, he highlights the lack of emphasis on actions at the local level, the limited updated information in developing countries and the limitations that stakeholders face when taking care of soil resources. [...]
Read the contribution here <http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/contributions/re-online-consultation-developing-voluntary-guidelines-sustainable-soil-manag-19>



[cid:image003.png@01D16EFF.0FD5A2F0]Alexandr Kaigorodtsev, East Kazakhstan state university, Kazakhstan

Alexandr supports Timothy's suggestions to include concrete recommendations for farmers and indicators. [...]
Read the contribution here <http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/contributions/re-online-consultation-developing-voluntary-guidelines-sustainable-soil-manag-20>



[cid:image003.png@01D16EFF.0FD5A2F0]Gurpreet Singh, Aga Khan Rural Support Programme-India, India

Gurpreet submits his comments on the draft, which are based on his experience in promoting sustainable agriculture practices in a salinity prone area of India. [...]
Read the contribution here<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/contributions/re-online-consultation-developing-voluntary-guidelines-sustainable-soil-manag-21>



[cid:image003.png@01D16EFF.0FD5A2F0]James Breeen, FAO, Ireland

James highlights the issue of land property rights: until farmers can't access land ownership the guidelines will be difficult to implement [...]
Read the contribution here<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/contributions/re-online-consultation-developing-voluntary-guidelines-sustainable-soil-manag-22>



[cid:image003.png@01D16EFF.0FD5A2F0]Jeroen Huising, IITA, Nigeria

Jeroen commends the guidelines for providing a comprehensive account of the ecosystem services of agricultural soils, though he notes that the guidelines are less suitable to situations in which these services are compromised and need to be restored. [...]
Read the contribution here<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/contributions/re-online-consultation-developing-voluntary-guidelines-sustainable-soil-manag-23>



[cid:image003.png@01D16EFF.0FD5A2F0]Amir Kassam, United Kingdom

Amir shares articulate comments on the draft, in particular regarding the role sustainable soil and land management in the context of the total agroecosystem functions. He also suggested references on conservation agriculture and sustainable intensification for consideration. [...]
Read Amir's first contribution here<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/contributions/re-online-consultation-developing-voluntary-guidelines-sustainable-soil-manag-24> and the second one here<http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/contributions/re-online-consultation-developing-voluntary-guidelines-sustainable-soil-manag-25>



[cid:image003.png@01D16EFF.0FD5A2F0]Ana Paya Perez, EU Joint Research Centre, Italy

Ana focuses on the links between the Voluntary Guidelines and the Sustainable Development Goals and attaches a mapping of the SDGs in soil and land. [...]
Read Ana's contribution here <http://www.fao.org/fsnforum/forum/contributions/re-online-consultation-developing-voluntary-guidelines-sustainable-soil-manag-26>





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