Scientists from all over the world in Florence to reiterate the importance of soil for our lives

The importance of soil in all the essential challenges for life on our planet is crucial, but still little known, if not underestimated: from climate change to water, from food security to biodiversity. It is a non-renewable resource, providing 95% of our food, with enormous potentialalso in terms of ecosystem services and functions, still largely to be studied and discovered and which national and international policies should consider more. This is reiterated by Iuss, the International Union of Soil Sciences, which brings together the national societies of 90 countries around the world, founded one hundred years ago, in 1924, at Villa Lubin in Rome, and which will celebrate a century of life with a Symposium international scientific event in Florence (19-21 May) for which, in the “cradle of the Renaissance”, over 1,500 scientists from all over the world are expected.
The Symposium, an opportunity to take stock of the alarm over land consumption with prestigious Italian and international guests, scientists and representatives of institutions, is organized by Iuss, in collaboration with Crea (which, with its Center for Agriculture and Environment , hosts the IUSS Secretariat, in Rome), the FAO and its Global Partnership for Soil (GSP), the Permanent Representation of Italy to the UN – Rome, the Delegation of the European Union to the Holy See, the Order of Malta, San Marino and the UN in Rome.