On Monday 19/04, some of our students and Ms. Vanneste had the honour of joining the United Nations Global Symposium on Soil Biodiversity that took place on Zoom! RIS was invited by the organising committee of the FAO due to our past collaborations such as the RIS celebration of Soil Day on December 2/12 where we interviewed Ronald Vargas, Land and water officer at the FAO.
During the opening session of the symposium, honorary speakers such as H.E. Tang Renjian - Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs, People’s Republic of China, H.E. Virginijus Sinkevicius - Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, European Union and H.E. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema - Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity emphasised the importance of soil biodiversity. Life beneath our feet plays a crucial role in:
Support for global food security (90% of crops are grown in soil) and an indispensable tool in the fight against world hunger
Combat climate change (soil can hold more CO2 than the atmosphere)
H.E. Mrs. Mrema also highlighted the important role that our youngsters and children play in the preservation and greater understanding of soil biodiversity. At RIS, students at a very young age are introduced to the importance of healthy soils for growing plants (food) and taught how to look at this precious resource.
Healthy Soil → Healthy Food → Healthy Lives
Addressing the worldwide audience on Zoom was also photographer Andy Murray who spent the last decade traveling the world photographing animals the size of sand grains to shine a light of this majestic hidden world beneath our feet!
His work can be viewed on the following links:
For more information on the importance of soil conservation, I highly recommend watching the Netflix documentary ‘Kissing the Ground’ (2020)!
I am very grateful to the FAO and hope our collaboration will continue to grow in the future!
- Ms. Hanne Vanneste
