Highlights and images for 3 May 2018

Global Symposium on Soil Pollution (GSOP18)

Summary

On Thursday, participants in the Global Symposium on Soil Pollution (GSOP18) met in four parallel sessions throughout the day to address the Symposium themes: soil pollution on agricultural fields and other land uses; the impact of soil pollution on food production and safety, the environment and overall human well-being; remediation of polluted sites; and developing policies and setting thresholds for addressing soil pollution and the global status of soil pollution.

During the morning, participants addressed four sub-themes in parallel sessions: drivers of soil pollution in agricultural fields; soil pollution and food safety; monitoring soil pollution; and developing policies and setting thresholds for addressing soil pollution.

In the afternoon, they deliberated on the sub-themes of: drivers of soil pollution in non-agricultural soils; risk assessment of soil pollution on the environment and human health; state of the art of remediation techniques of polluted sites; and case studies at global, national, and regional scales.

Four side-events took place during the day. At midday, in a side-event co-organized by FAO and UN Environment, participants discussed the implementation of the UN Environment Assembly Resolution on addressing soil pollution in an effort to move the global soil pollution agenda forward. A parallel side event organized by FAO focused on water pollution from agriculture. In the afternoon, participants discussed policies, indicators, and assessments for tackling soil pollution in Europe in a side-event co-organized by FAO, the European Commission, and the European Environment Agency. Additionally, a side-event focusing on bioavailability of contaminants in soil, co-organized by FAO and the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council, trained participants on: determining when a bioavailability assessment may be appropriate; selecting appropriate methods to evaluate soil bioavailability; and using tools to develop soil bioavailability estimates.

Highlights of the day also included:

Mapping of the distribution of heavy metals in different parts of the world
Presentation of case studies on contaminated land management at national level
Consideration of sustainable remediation techniques going beyond temporal and spatial boundaries, and using sustainability assessment frameworks
Discussions on pathways of emerging pollutants, including microplastics, from soil to crops, and implications for human health
Production of short videos with key participants, highlighting the magnitude of soil pollution and why it should be of global concern

IISD Reporting Services, through its ENB+ Meeting Coverage, has provided daily digital web updates and a summary report from GSOP18. The summary report is now available in HTML and PDF.