Celebrating Soil! Celebrating Life!

The Celebrating Soil! Celebrating Life! congress will take place from 26 to 27 June as part of the UN-backed 2015 International Year of Soils and the global Save Our Soils campaign. The event to be staged at Amsterdam’s Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) will feature speakers including Maria Helena Semedo, deputy director general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Doug Tompkins, founder of retail chains Esprit and North Face, and now the world’s largest private land conservationist. Other speakers include German celebrity chef Sarah Wiener, Alternative Nobel Prize winner Vandana Shiva and Chief Arvol Looking Horse, spiritual leader of the Sioux, while royal guests, entrepreneurs and prominent activists are also expected to attend. However, one theme connects them all: soil. With 10 million hectares of fertile soil, amounting to 30 football fields per minute, lost each year due to erosion and degradation, the congress will emphasise why saving our soils is vital to future food supplies.

The Celebrating Soil! Celebrating Life! congress is organised by Nature & More in cooperation with FAO and IFOAM Organic International. Nature & More is the trace & tell trademark of Eosta. The purpose of the congress is to generate attention for the issue of soil loss and make consumers aware of their unique power. Any choice for sustainable and organic agriculture makes a contribution towards saving soils. In the run-up to the congress, a Soil Declaration & Action Plan is being written with help of participants, which will be presented near the end of the congress. For the complete congress program, see: www.celebratingsoil.com.