This page provides access the technical manuals developed under the Soils4Africa project, as well as additional project reports that support the development of this SIS, and several other relevant soil resources.
The ‘Survey Data Management Tool’ is a web-based platform developed to manage the field campaign of the Soils4Africa project. This manual describes its functionality and use.
Citation: Huising, E.J., Obileye, O., Ayuka, P., Mesele, S., 2022. Soils4Africa Survey Data Management Tool (SDMT) User Manual v 2.2. Soils4Africa Project Report. EU Horizon 2020 Grant agreement ID: 862900. Doi: 10.3030/862900
The Soils4Africa project aimed to collect soil samples from 20,000 locations across Africa’s agricultural land. A continent-wide sampling scheme was designed to select the sampling locations based on a probability sampling approach. This document describes this scheme that can also be applied for future soil monitoring in Africa.
Citation: Kempen, B., Brus, D.J., De Sousa, L., 2021. Soils4Africa sampling design. Soils4Africa Project Report D3.2B. EU Horizon 2020 Grant agreement ID: 862900. Doi: 10.3030/862900
This report outlines the methodology used by the Soils4Africa project to generate a map of the agricultural land (MAL) of continental Africa and presents the resulting product. Agricultural land includes arable land, permanent crops and permanent pastures. The MAL was generated by applying agricultural land classification rules to a set of Copernicus Global Land Cover layers. The methodology resulted in two data layers: one indicating presence/absence of agricultural land and one that distinguishes 14 classes of agricultural land. The report dates from 2020. In 2021, an annex was published that presents updated agricultural land classification rules used to produce a second version of the MAL. This version of the MAL served as the sampling frame for the Soils4Africa sampling design. Both data layers are available in the geospatial data catalogue of the SIS: presence/absence layer; agricultural land class layer.
Citation main report: Huising, E.J., Wangui Mwangi, E. Buyengo, J., 2020. Map of agricultural land of continental Africa. Soils4Africa Project Report D4.1. EU Horizon 2020 Grant agreement ID: 862900. Doi: 10.3030/862900
Citation annex: Huising, E.J., Buyengo, J., Kempen, B., Wangui Mwangi, E. 2021. Annex to D4.1: Map of agricultural land of continental Africa. Soils4Africa Project Report D4.1 - Annex. EU Horizon 2020 Grant agreement ID: 862900. Doi: 10.3030/862900
This report describes which relevant existing datasets are available in the ISRIC-WDC holdings that provide data on the soils in the agricultural areas in Africa Each data set will be briefly described, metadata will be given as well as its potential for use in this project.
Citation: Batjes, N.H., Ribeiro, E., 2021. Inventory of soil data for Africa represented in the ISRIC-WDC holdings. Soils4Africa Project Report D3.2A. EU Horizon 2020 Grant agreement ID: 862900. Doi: 10.3030/862900
This report documents the expectations of users towards the Soils4Africa soil information system with a collection of formal requirements. It is does not describe how the system will ultimately come to be, or how it should be implemented. It rather informs on the activities users expect the system to support, the data it is expected to host and how users intend to interact with it. These user requirements provide a guide for the development of the system. By systematising users and stakeholders expectations, requirements offer a preview of the concrete ways in which users expect to employ the system.
Citation: De Sousa, L., Turdukulov, U., Kempen, B., 2021. User requirements for the IT infrastructure. Soils4Africa Project Report D3.5. EU Horizon 2020 Grant agreement ID: 862900. Doi: 10.3030/862900
This report describes the technical design of the SIS. It contains a description of the technical solutions that will be deployed for building the SIS. It identifies and specifies hardware requirements, software resources, the APIs required to ingest store and manage the data provided by the laboratory and field data collection systems. It also describes the platforms and web services required to serve these data to the users via a web portal.
Citation: Turdukulov, U., Kempen, B., Mendes de Jesus, J., Calisto., L., van Genuchten, P., Poggio, L., 2021. Technical design of the Soil Information System. Soils4Africa Project Report D6.1. EU Horizon 2020 Grant agreement ID: 862900. Doi: 10.3030/862900
This report describes examples of potential use cases of the SIS in the field of sustainable intensification of agriculture. The use cases are developed with potential users and will lead to soil quality indicators that are needed in the context of the use case.
Citation: Fatunbi, O.A., Abhishek, A., 2020. A set of use cases plus supporting soil quality indicators. Soils4Africa Project Report D2.1. EU Horizon 2020 Grant agreement ID: 862900. Doi: 10.3030/862900
This report describes the process to identify the parameters necessary for the quantification of indicators that evaluate the impact of agricultural management practices on the agricultural soils of Africa and assess their sustainability. The selection process has considered the use requirements for soil information as described above from identified use case categories and existing Soil Information Systems in Europe such as the LUCAS Topsoil survey. In addition, the selection of indicators relies on knowledge derived from European projects addressing Soil Quality in an agricultural context, such as EU H2020 LANDMARK project (grant agreement No 635201) in which knowledge from Africa initiatives can be integrated.
Citation: Moinet, G., Creamer, R., Leenaars, J., 2021. Methods for deriving selected soil quality indicators. Soils4Africa Project Report D3.1. EU Horizon 2020 Grant agreement ID: 862900. Doi: 10.3030/862900
The first ever SOIL ATLAS OF AFRICA uses striking maps, informative texts and stunning photographs to answer and explain these and other questions. Leading soil scientists from Europe and Africa have collaborated to produce this unique document. Using state-of-the-art computer mapping techniques, the Soil Atlas of Africa shows the changing nature of soil across the continent. It explains the origin and functions of soil, describes the different soil types that can be found in Africa and their relevance to both local and global issues. The atlas also discusses the principal threats to soil and the steps being taken to protect soil resources. The Soil Atlas of Africa is more than just a normal atlas. It presents a new and comprehensive interpretation of an often neglected natural resource. The Soil Atlas of Africa is an essential reference to a non-renewable resource that is fundamental for life on this planet.
Citation: European Commission
The first-ever Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas that maps the soil biodiversity of the entire planet. The Atlas describes soil as habitat for the diversity of organisms that live under our feet. At the same time, it draws attention to the threats to soil biodiversity, such as invasive species, pollution, intensive land use practices or climate change. The Atlas provides current solutions for a sustainable management of soils. The Atlas shows that mismanaging soils could exacerbate the effects of climate change, jeopardise agricultural production, compromise the quality of ground water and worsen pollution. It also proposes solutions to safeguard soil biodiversity through the development of policies that directly or indirectly target soil health, leading to a more sustainable use.
Citation: European Commission
The SWSR is a reference document on the status of global soil resources that provides regional assessments of soil change. The information is based on peer-reviewed scientific literature, complemented with expert knowledge and project outputs. It provides a description and a ranking of ten major soil threats that endanger ecosystem functions, goods and services globally and in each region separately. Additionally, it describes direct and indirect pressures on soils and ways and means to combat soil degradation. The report contains a Synthesis report for policy makers that summarizes its findings, conclusions and recommendations.
Citation: FAO
Please note that this website is still under construction. Functionality of the soil information system is limited.
We expect to release this soil information system of Africa, developed under the EU-funded 'Soils4Africa' project, by 31 May 2025.
