Today, May 25, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) publishes the Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas, first-ever of this topic. It’s a European Comission iniciative, available and free for everyone who is interested in. This atlas maps the soil biodiversity of the entire planet by providing an exhaustive analysis of soil organisms and the threats it has to face. Soil management could help the mitigation of the effects of climate change.

The Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas describes soil as the habitat of a myriad of organisms, from unicellular to complex living organisms such as plants, fungi and animals. It also draws attention to the threats that this thin line of the biosphere has, including invasive species, pollution, intensive land use practices and climate change. The Atlas provides current solutions for a sustainable management of soils.

It has been coordinated by the JRC and the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative with hundreds of contributions, and it shows the diversity of soil organisms, explains their geographical and temporal distributions, and the ecosystem services provided by soil biota. Pilar Andrés and Enrique Doblas-Miranda, from CREAF, has collaborated developing the Atlas, and it has been launched today at the 2^nd UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya.

You can download the Atlas here.