4.3 Open-Space Session – Soil quality and agricultural sustainability indicators for the environmental performance index

Soil degradation as a result of agricultural expansion and intensification is an area in need of consistent and reliable cross-country comparative data at a global or near-global scale. The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) – a global, biennial ranking of national environmental performance jointly produced by Yale and Columbia universities in collaboration with the World Economic Forum – is in the process of identifying soil and land indicators to assess national level environmental performance in the agriculture sector. We invite the soil and agriculture community to join us for this Open Space Session to provide feedback and guidance on our candidate indicators, as well as generate discussion around other potential new indicators. This session will provide an extended discussion space that follows from our introductory presentation during the earlier joint session on Soil and Land Indicators to Inform the International Policy Agenda.

We have so far identified potential datasets and indicators on nitrogen and phosphorus excess and on greenhouse gas emissions. We hope that collaborative dialogue among agricultural experts will provide a critical review of our progress to date, as well as suggestions for other relevant datasets and indicators for development. Currently available data in these areas are imperfect, but there may be ways to bring them to scale or improve data collection methods so that they can be incorporated into future editions of the EPI and inform policy.

We envision this session both as a platform to develop indicators for the EPI, as well as an opportunity for scientists and policymakers to engage with each other to promote common goals for driving data-based improvements in agriculture policy globally.

Moderators:
Angel Hsu, Director and Daphne Yin, Researcher
Environmental Performance Measurement Programme, YCELP (USA)

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Download the session description here.

Contact: Ariane Goetz