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Celebration highlights the importance of healthy soils for food security, climate resilience and public wellbeing, as FAO awards two major international soil prizes…
05/12/2025
Rome – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today marked World Soil Day 2025 with a global celebration in Rome under the theme “Healthy Soils for Healthy Cities.” The Day underscores the crucial role that soil health plays not only in agriculture but also in shaping more resilient, greener and healthier urban environments.
With two-thirds of the world’s population projected to live in cities by 2050, urban soils are under increasing pressure from sealing, pollution and unplanned expansion. These trends threaten the soil’s ability to produce food, regulate temperature, filter water, store carbon and support biodiversity. Rapid urban growth is also consuming fertile peri-urban croplands—some nearly twice as productive as the global average—placing additional strain on agrifood systems.
This year’s World Soil Day carries special significance as it coincides with FAO’s 80th anniversary—eight decades of partnership, innovation and action for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, opening the ceremony, emphasized that soil health is fundamental for the future of cities and the well-being of the people who live in them.
“It is a moment to reflect and to look ahead to a future in which healthy soils are the foundation of efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, healthier people, greener cities and a more prosperous planet,” the Director-General said. “The responsibility of each of us is clear: protect soils, restore soils and build cities that can thrive for future generations,” he added.
Princess Basma Bint Ali of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, FAO Goodwill Ambassador for Near East and North Africa, also addressed the ceremony, underscoring the profound connection between people and the soil. She emphasized that soil is the basis of life itself – a living foundation that sustains ecosystems, nourishes communities and even allows trees to communicate and thrive. Because much of its richness is hidden from sight, she noted, soils are too often overlooked, even though protecting and restoring them is a collective responsibility essential to the future of humanity and the planet.
The event also featured the participation of Narumol Sanguanvong, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Thailand, as well as Igor Golubovskiy, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to FAO…
