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Soils, Land and Desertification Information Sharing: Issues and Opportunities for a Cooperative Undertaking

Eugene A. Fosnight, Raytheon, UNEP GRID Sioux Falls (fosnight@usgs.gov)

Ashbindu Singh, UNEP

Abstract

The Soils, Land and Desertification Portal (SLDP) is intended to provide an integrated view of soils, land and desertification information. The intent is to identify organizations actively pursuing global and regional research and applications, and to identify primary sources of information and data. A special emphasis will be on arid and semi-arid lands.

The SLDP is one of the designated UNEP.Net thematic portals. UNEP.Net provides a filter and an information structure for information stored within United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) corporate Websites and selected authoritative information sources throughout the environmental community. This network of portals imposes an information structure on the filtered environmental information. UNEP.Net, in brief, is designed to be a unified environmental information discovery tool.

The lead agencies for developing SLDP are the UNEP Global Resource Information Database (GRID) Sioux Falls, the International Soils Reference Information Centre (ISRIC) and the International Arid Lands Consortium (IALC). The SLDP requires the close co-ordination of strong partners. The lead partners have the responsibility to co-ordinate the collection of information in their areas of expertise. Beyond the lead agencies, UN agencies, NGOs, national agencies and universities are expected to serve as primary sources of information and data.