Beginning in Africa, the world’s scientists are using new technologies to make a digital soil map of the world that will provide vital data needed to make good decisions on such key global concerns as food security, climate change, water scarcity, biodiversity conservation, and urban sprawl. GlobalSoilMap.net is a global consortium of scientists who are working together to map most of the globe’s ice-free land surface and make the maps freely available, web-accessible, and widely distributed and used.

The first stage of the project was the launch of the African Soil Information Service (AfSIS) in Nairobi, Kenya in January 2009. AfSIS will produce a digital map of 42 African countries revealing soil type and its component nutrients that will help guide efforts to improve the fertility of Africa's soils, some of which are the most depleted in the world. The International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) was the beneficiary of an $18 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and AGRA to implement the AfSIS.

Wycliffe Oparanya, Kenya's Minister of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, who launched AfSIS at the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) in Nairobi, said that “investing in soil health is a key concern that we must all address ourselves … to achieve food security for our people." He said the food crisis facing many countries had become a global phenomenon that posed a new threat to the stability of the social framework and to the prosperity of all nations.

“Throughout the world, more and more people are unable to find food," Oparanya said. "There are increased cases of food riots, which in turn lead to political instability. This means that all nations must increase and sustain the production of staple food crops such as wheat, rice, maize, millet and potatoes, among others.”

“The best science and technology available must be deployed immediately if Africa’s soils are to be managed in a sustainable manner. Let there be no mistake about the significance of this wonderful project,” says former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who chairs the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

The coverage and detail of existing soil maps are poor, particularly in large, scarcely populated countries in Africa, says Alfred Hartemink, soil scientist at ISRIC – World Soil Information in the Netherlands, which leads the consortium. "The maps that do exist are 10–30 years old. That poses a problem, because the soil properties of interest — like pH, carbon or phosphorus content — change over time."

Hartemink says the plan is to have 70% of the world mapped within five years, with a full map completed within 10–15 years. "The first step, the collection of existing soil and map data and the calibration of our satellite images, will be hard. After that, updating the maps will be easy," he says.

The consortium, created through an initiative of the Digital Soil Mapping Working Group of the International Union of Soil Sciences IUSS, includes research centres in Italy, Australia, China, USA, France, Brazil, and Kenya. The GlobalSoilMap.net project is designed around nodes in every continent to allow for the exchange of information and dissemination of data.

These nodes, which are centers of excellence in soil information and agricultural development, offer a unique approach by fostering the south to-south and north-to-south technology exchange and testing that is only feasible by using a global approach, and by avoiding the piecemeal approach that results in incompatible outputs across the world, the consortium says. GlobalSoilMap.net will present data in a cohesive format that allows comparison and analysis between and among continents.

This article was prepared from several sources, including A new digital soil map of the world, GlobalSoilMap.net press release issued in Canberra, Ispra, Morgantown, Nairobi, Nanjing, New York, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Wageningen in March, 2009, and a brochure about GlobalSoilMap.net; information on the Africa Soils website; Africa's soils to be digitally mapped, by Berber Rouwé, SciDev.Net, 13 January 2009; AFRICA: Soil scientists join efforts to boost food security, IRIN News, Jan. 13, 2009; and GlobalSoilMap.net - Scientists to Map Out Earth’s Soil, New York, Feb. 17, 2009. The photograph comes from the photo gallery on the Africa Soils website, and the map indicating where soil samples will be collected for AfSIS comes from ICRAF and accompanied the IRIN News story.

For a story about GlobalSoilMap.net written by Mr. Hartemink, see the latest edition of the MEA Bulletin.