On the occasion of the World Soil Day on December 5, 2014 the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) in cooperation with the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the IASS will host the official opening event of the IYoS in Berlin. The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2015 the International Year of Soils (IYoS). At the same time, the year 2015 offers several important opportunities to link soils to the broader sustainability community and support their recognition for sustainable development. The opening event with the title “Germany’s soil use – global implications, global responsibilities” will use this framing to put Germany’s contributions towards healthy soils and responsibly managed land into a wider angle. To this end, we will invite a broad range of stakeholders and experts to discuss the impacts of Germany’s soil use in Germany as well as in the world and touch upon topics like virtual land imports and the increase of soil sealing. Participants will link up those problem areas to the national, European and international level and ask what is already being done to manage our soils sustainably and how can we enlarge our engagement given the various opportunities that the year 2015 will offer.

Anlässlich des Weltbodentages am 5. Dezember 2014 veranstaltet das Deutsche Bundesministeriums für Umwelt, Naturschutz, Bau und Reaktorsicherheit (BMUB) in Kooperation mit dem Deutschen Umweltbundesamt (UBA), der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH und dem Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) Potsdam ein Event in Berlin zur feierlichen Eröffnung des International Year of Soil 2015. Die Veranstaltung wird in internationaler Besetzung diskutieren, welche Auswirkungen Deutschlands Bodennutzung hier und in der Welt hat und welche globale Verantwortung sich daraus für Deutschland ergibt. Insbesondere das Jahr 2015, in dem die SDG Verhandlungen ihren Höhepunkt erreichen, bietet viele Möglichkeiten lokales Handeln in eine breitere globale Nachhaltigkeitsdiskussion einzuordnen.

World Soil day celebrates the importance of soil as a critical component of the natural system and as a vital contributor to the human commonwealth through its contribution to food, water and energy security and as a mitigator of biodiversity loss and climate change. It is celebrated particularly by the global community of 60 000 soil scientists charged with responsibility of generating and communicating soil knowledge for the common good. many events focussed on increasing the public awareness of soil and its contribution to humanity and the environment. It is held on December 5th because it corresponds with the official birthday of H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej , the King of Thailand, who has officially sanctioned the event.