Orléans, France, was the site of the first GlobalSoilMap Conference held October 7–9, with approximately 100 attendees. Sponsored by the Institute National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), the International Union of Soil Science (IUSS), ISRIC - World Soil Information, and other leading research and soil science agencies and organizations, the conference focused on recent progress in developing new digital data resources on soils to meet the pressing needs of farmers, agronomists, resource managers, and other users for improved soil information. CIESIN senior staff associate Sonya Ahamed attended the conference as a representative of the Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS), a collaboration between the Columbia Global Center|East Africa, the Earth Institute, and African scientists and institutions, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She also represented the Earth Institute at a meeting of the Global Soil Consortium held the following day on the INRA campus in Orleans.
See:
GlobalSoilMap Conference 2013