Soil of the Year

Loess Soil: Soil of the year 2021 Source: BGR

The soil of the year has been selected and presented by the Advisory board Soil of the Year since 2005. With this action, soils and their ecosystem functions shall be made aware to as many people as possible in order to promote a responsible handling and hence protection of this essential resource.

Soil of the Year at BGR

The Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources has created an overview map showing the distribution areas of the respective soil of the year in most years.

In the year 2020, BGR hosted an event on the World Soil Day. There, loess soil was presented as the soil of the year 2021.

Information on the soil of the year 2021: Loess soil

The BGR webpage also provides information on most of the soils selected in previous years (in German only). Further information can be found on the webpage of the Advisory board Soil of the Year (in German only).

Advisory board Soil of the Year

The advisory board organizes the presentation of the soil of the year on the World Soil Day on December 5th. The soil of the year is presented to the public using posters, flyers, webpages and numerous events in Germany.

The Advisory board Soil of the Year is a committee of the Deutsche Bodenkundliche Gesellschaft, DBG, the Bundesverband Boden, BVB as well as the Ingenieurtechnischer Verband für Altlastenmanagement und Flächenrecycling, ITVA in the joint “Aktionsplattform Bodenschutz”. This action was initiated as a lobbying activity for the resource soil by BVB and DBG and is funded by the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA) in Dessau, Germany.

Webpage Advisory board Soil of the Year (in German only) Source: Advisory board Soil of the Year