Soils Atlas of Africa

The Land Management and Natural Hazards Unit of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES), ISRIC – World Soil Information, the European Soil Bureau Network (ESBN), the African Soil Science Society (ASSS), and FAO conducted a survey amongst potential users of the Soils Atlas for Africa, to get insight into the needs and wishes about its content.

The Africa Soil Science Society is a non-profit organization founded in 1986 following a meeting of African soil scientists who attended the World Soil congress in Hamburg (Germany). ASSS has successfully organized four International Conferences : Kampala (Uganda, 1988), Cairo (Egypt, 1990), Ibadan (Nigeria, 1994) and most recently Accra (Ghana, 2007).

Before embarking on the production of a Soils Atlas of Africa, the Land Management and Natural Hazards Unit of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES), ISRIC – World Soil Information, the European Soil Bureau Network (ESBN), the African Soil Science Society (ASSS), and FAO conducted a survey amongst potential users of the Atlas, to get insight into the needs and wishes about its content. The survey was conducted between half May and half June, 2007, by sending around a questionnaire using the email networks of ESBN, the ASSS, the alumni of Ghent University, Belgium, the World Reference Base for Soil Resources, and through the Soil Portal webpage of IES.

The preliminary report on the user survey for the Soils Atlas of Africa is now available for comment. Click here