A truly international year of soils
Soil health is clearly an international concern, which affects countries all over the world. It can take up to 1 000 years to form just 1 cm of soil and with 33% of the world's soils currently degraded, raising awareness about the importance of soils is a top priority in 2015 and beyond.
It's only March and international commitment to the soil cause is evident through the year's logo, which has now been translated into 25 languages including Basque, Czech, Finnish, Icelandic, Japanese and Turkish, among others.
Spread the word in your country
There are infinite types of soil on our planet, which perform numerous key functions and guarantee food security and nutrition. Protecting them should be a priority for everyone; you can spread the word about the International Year of Soils in your country by sharing the logo in your local language.
What does the IYS logo mean?
The IYS logo embodies the year's slogan "healthy soils for a healthy life". In other words, if we safeguard and nurture our soils, they will in turn produce healthy food and a healthy environment, ultimately ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come.
This is represented visually by the icon of the hand protecting and nurturing the soil, which produces healthy vegetation, represented by the leaves. In the logo, the hand is physically supporting and protecting the soil in its grasp: human intervention is vital to soil preservation.
The coloured bands represent the multiple horizons, or layers, of soil. The order and choice of colours hint at the key functions and components of healthy living soils and the wide range of soil types across the globe. The rich brown colour represents dark and humus-rich topsoil, vital for air, moisture and nutrient retention. The yellow ochre colour denotes sandy or rocky types of soil, suggesting the infinite number of soil types around the world; while the blue represents the importance of water in soil fertility and productivity. Lastly, the deep burgundy layer at the bottom symbolizes underlying strata and suggests depth.