On the occasion of its centenary, the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland, held the International Forum on Soils, Society and Global Change in Selfoss, Iceland, from 31 August - 4 September 2007. Held in partnership with three Icelandic institutions, and 18 international agencies, organizations and universities, the forum brought together approximately 130 participants, including scientists, policy makers, land users and private sector representatives. The forum, which had as its patron Iceland's President, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, aimed to explore the synergistic roles of soil conservation and vegetation restoration in meeting local, regional and global environmental and social challenges. It also aimed to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and ideas between scientists, policy makers, land users and private sector representatives.

The meeting consisted of presentations, plenary and working group discussions. Plenary sessions focused on four themes, which then fed into working group discussions: Setting the Stage: Soils, Society and Global Change; Healthy Soils: Supporting Food Security, Water Provision, Poverty Reduction and Biodiversity; Mitigating Climate Change through Restoration of Degraded Land; and Creating an Enabling Environment. The five working groups addressed: soil stewardship and landcare; soil management and multilateral environmental agreements; carbon sequestration, carbon markets and land restoration; knowledge management; and capacity building for legislative and policy development in soils management.

The meeting resulted in two related sets of outcomes. First, each of the working groups identified key issues and related recommendations, together with a set of actions and modus operandi for implementing their recommendations. Additionally, forum participants accepted a Programme of Action summarizing key aspects of the working group outcomes. It is also anticipated that a book of conference proceedings, incorporating working group reports and presenters' papers, will be released in late 2007 or early 2008. More information