General Information
| Relevant operative para(s) of Res/Rec | Activities Overview | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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1
2
3
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Scientific/technical activities
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Established the GLISS Working Group under WCEL SoilSAL and mobilised a multidisciplinary group of legal, policy and soil-science experts. A four-year implementation approach, regular meeting cycle and collaborative work arrangements were put in place. Five meetings were held from March to August 2026; the sixth is scheduled for September, with significant preparation completed.
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On-going
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1
2
3
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Capacity building
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Established a secured collaboration platform to help organise tasks and subtasks, manage working group documents, share research resources, record meeting outcomes and track progress over time.
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Completed
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1
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Scientific/technical activities
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Established a first sub-working group on sustainable soil management/use terminology.
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On-going
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|
1
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Scientific/technical activities
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Compiled foundational texts in international environmental law and policy.
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Completed
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|
1
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Scientific/technical activities
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Collaborating with GLISS experts to review recurring legal principles across selected international and regional binding and non-binding instruments to select relevant legal principles for soil security. Assessing whether and how the nine soil policy principles underpinning soil security can be translated into legal principles for inclusion in a global legal instrument on soil security.
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On-going
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|
1
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Scientific/technical activities
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Advanced the core architecture of a future global legal instrument on soil security by developing its objectives, scope, definitions and preparing a working Preamble. The text is being refined through comparative legal, policy and scientific reviews.
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On-going
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|
1
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Scientific/technical activities
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Reviewing and comparing possible legal forms for a global legal instrument on soil security.
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On-going
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1
3
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Policy influencing/advocacy
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Examined short-term and long-term legal strategies for implementing Resolution 8.007.
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Completed
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1
3
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Policy influencing/advocacy
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Assessed alternative approaches to a global legal instrument on soil security.
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Completed
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1
3
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Convene stakeholders/Networking
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Continuously screens prospective GLISS members and identifies additional scientists, legal experts and specialists whose expertise would add value. Planned outreach also maps universities, scientific institutions, relevant IUCN bodies and soil-governance initiatives that could contribute to or support the process.
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Planned
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3
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Policy influencing/advocacy
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Identified the states and NGOs that supported Resolution 8.007 at the IUCN World Conservation Congress with a quantitative analysis.
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Completed
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1
3
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Other (please specify)
|
Transparency:
Mapping the expertise, institutional affiliations and geographical representation of GLISS Working Group members. |
Planned
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|
1
2
3
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Convene stakeholders/Networking
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Coordinating with the Resolution 8.002 soil-biodiversity and sustainable-agriculture workstream.
GLISS Chair and Deputy Chair participated to two meetings. The Chair will participate to the first meeting of the Cross-Commissions WG on "Agriculture and Food Systems and Biodiversity". |
On-going
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|
1
2
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Scientific/technical activities
|
Conducting a literature review to examine the legal significance and distinctions between protection, conservation, restoration, rehabilitation, sustainable soil management and sustainable use and development a relevant terminology.
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Planned
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|
1
2
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Scientific/technical activities
|
Assessing how soil biodiversity, soil functions, soil services, ecological integrity and human health should be reflected in the instrument.
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On-going
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|
1
2
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Scientific/technical activities
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Prepare a proposal clarifying the relationship between GLISS and the voluntary guidelines of the European Soil Partnership, including their relevance to terminology, scientific coherence and implementation pathways.
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Planned
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1
3
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Scientific/technical activities
|
Establish a second sub-working group on the GLISS and Rio Conventions relationship to analyse complementarity, mutual supportiveness, scientific and institutional cooperation, compatible monitoring and reviewing, acknowledgement of overlaps and avoidance of unnecessary duplication.
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Planned
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|
1
2
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Scientific/technical activities
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Establish a third sub-working group on definitions and terminology.
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Planned
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|
1
3
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Scientific/technical activities
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Within the second WG on GLISS and the Rio Conventions: review of the UNCCD COP17 decisions/CRIC24/CST17 documents and The Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) knowledge product 02 "How Healthy Soil Aligns the Rio Conventions and Global Agendas".
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Planned
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|
1
3
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Scientific/technical activities
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Preparation of a legal and institutional brief analysing how soils are framed and operationalised within the UNCCD, CBD and UNFCCC frameworks.
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Planned
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|
3
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Education/Communication/Raising awareness
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Development of policy briefs and visual materials explaining the soil security concept and its relationship with other soil governance concepts.
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Planned
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|
1
2
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Scientific/technical activities
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Collaborate with the Resolution 002 Commission Expert Group on Soil Biodiversity to ensure that biodiversity components are scientifically robust and legally and politically operational.
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Planned
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2
3
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Education/Communication/Raising awareness
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Develop targeted policy briefs and visual materials for policy audiences, including UNCCD national focal points and relevant ministries. Outputs will include concise country-level legal and policy gap analyses on soil protection, alongside comparative summaries of key soil-governance concepts (including land-soil distinctions), and the legal effects, coverage and gaps of international and regional instruments.
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Planned
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Actors involved in these activities
| Challenges / lessons learned | Description |
|---|---|
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Lack of awareness / engagement
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Global participation spans widely separated time zones and relies largely on voluntary availability, which can affect attendance and the depth of engagement. Advance circulation of focused questions, asynchronous drafting in shared documents, intersessional work and small task-specific groups help sustain substantive participation between meetings. |
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Other (please specify)
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Translating science into law: the group is distinguishing core definitions and principles from indicators, methodologies and thresholds that may be better developed in later provisions, annexes or guidance and operationalising a concept rooted in soil science and policy. |
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Other (please specify)
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Soil-governance specific challenge: soil governance is fragmented across scales and within legql qnd policy frameworks, avoiding duplication requires an exhaustive comparison with the relevant international and regional instruments to identify gaps and complementarity. |
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Insufficient / lack of resources
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Given the reliance on voluntary expert time, prioritization, focused intersessional assignments, and staged consultations are required. While these measures are essential, they often lead to slower progress toward achieving our objectives and an uneven distribution of workload, with a small core of contributors carrying a disproportionate share of drafting and review. The absence of budget for in-person meetings, limiting the depth of deliberation achievable in virtual formats. |
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Coordination issues
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Consensus-based decision-making safeguards legitimacy and expert buy-in but extends timelines when views diverge. This is particularly pronounced at the science-policy-law interface. Structured options, recorded areas of convergence and clearly assigned follow-up work help maintain progress without prematurely closing important questions. |