Worldwide Soil Biodiversity Monitoring Initiative Introduced to Secure Subterranean Lifeforms' Existence
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has launched the Global Soil Biodiversity Observatory (GLOSOB). This new initiative aims to address the current challenges in integrating soil biodiversity into policy and national monitoring frameworks.
Current data shows that microbial soil carbon and soil macrofauna like earthworms and nematodes are relatively strong. However, understanding beyond these, especially concerning enzymatic activity, nutrient cycling, and microbial genetic diversity, is limited. Realizing GLOSOB's goals will require investments in laboratory facilities, training programs, and standardized monitoring systems.
The challenges that GLOSOB seeks to address include a lack of standardized monitoring protocols, the absence of actionable strategies, research gaps and uneven global coverage, limited national capacity, and the fact that many soil biodiversity hotspots lie outside protected or conservation areas. These factors make it harder to monitor and protect these vital ecosystems.
Major threats to soil biodiversity, such as extreme climate events, land degradation, deforestation, invasive species, and pollution, exacerbate conservation challenges. Soil biodiversity plays a significant role in sustaining key food crops and acts as vital genetic reservoirs, even in hyper-arid, acidic, or waterlogged farmlands.
To address these challenges, GLOSOB proposes a tiered system, starting from basic chemical and decomposition measurements and gradually moving towards advanced approaches like shotgun metagenomic sequencing. The initiative aims to expand global coverage, address research gaps, and strengthen national capacities for soil monitoring.
GLOSOB also seeks to bridge scientific research and policymaking by coordinating efforts to improve data standardization, capacity building, and integration of soil biodiversity considerations into national and global biodiversity frameworks. This approach responds directly to demands highlighted by experts like Jacob Parnell, emphasizing coordination, capacity enhancement, and actionable strategies as essential for effective soil biodiversity protection within policy and monitoring frameworks.
GLOSOB is intended to support the implementation of international frameworks such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2020-2030 plan. By defining improved indicators that track essential biodiversity variables across both taxonomic and functional dimensions, GLOSOB aims to confront these risks and ensure the sustainable management of agricultural soil fertility.
The initiative was announced during COP15 and aims to become a global reference for scientific collaboration and policy design in the monitoring, measurement, and protection of soil biodiversity. However, the FAO's timeline for these initiatives is not provided, and the exact funding allocated for these initiatives remains unknown.
Experts warn that deforestation and other threats are endangering below-ground ecosystems. Integrating biodiversity data into national soil surveys and information systems is a key priority to enable accurate policy development and sustainable management practices.
Science plays a crucial role in addressing the challenges faced by health-and-wellness, environment, and particularly environmental-science, as demonstrated by the FAO's Global Soil Biodiversity Observatory (GLOSOB). With the goal of improving data standardization, capacity building, and integrating soil biodiversity considerations into national and global biodiversity frameworks, GLOSOB aims to support the sustainable management of agricultural soil fertility and confront risks to vital below-ground ecosystems.
