This day, December 5, officially marks the beginning of Brazil's National Soils Program (Pronasolos), the largest Brazilian technical-scientific enterprise in the area of soils. On the occasion, on which World Soil Day is celebrated, in Brasília, DF, at Embrapa's headquarters, twenty Brazilian institutions sign a protocol of intentions to perform the largest pedological survey ever carried out in Brazil. A study to be performed throughout the next 30 years and estimated at about R$740 millions in the ten first years. The program will gather activities of investigation, documentation, inventory and interpretation of Brazilian soil data for the management and conservation of this resource. The information is fundamental for countless areas that range from climate change and water resources to rural insurance and telecommunications, explains the Embrapa Soils researcher José Carlos Polidoro, coordinator of Pronasolos. “How can we know how much carbon we can stock in the soil to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions if we do not know how much of this element exists today in Brazilian soils? How can we make climate risk zoning at the level of rural properties if details on the different soil cross sections that we have in the country are not known?”, the specialist exemplifies. Polidoro says that the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), for instance, needs to know the value of the soil's electric conductivity in some regions, information that is relevant for the installation of antennas. “It is a simple measurement performed in a few minutes, but which has not been made to date”, he reports, asserting that the work of surveying soils in Brazil is long overdue, especially for a country with such strong agricultural activity. It is estimated that the country is losing five billion dollars a year due to erosion alone. “This program has great importance for land use planning in Brazil, as it conjoins economic development in the fields with the conservation of natural resources and the management of water resources,” declares Edgar Shinzato, head of the Department of Institutional Information of Brazil's Geologic Service (CPRM/SGB), one of the institutions participating in Pronasolos. It is about one of Brazil's largest initiatives to protect its soils", underscores the president of Embrapa, Maurício Antônio Lopes, who called attention to the importance of collective action for the success of the enterprise. “One does not undertake a task of this magnitude without a consolidated partnership, as it involves extremely important stakeholders,” he emphasizes. Return of R$185 for each Real invested “Soils need to be strategically looked after. The United States Department of Agriculture dit it in the 1960s and it is estimated that each dollar invested in the soil survey resulted in up to 120 dollars in returns. In Brazil, the literature points that the ratio can be of one to 185 in a scale starting from 1:50.000,” asserts Polidoro, from Embrapa. That is, for each Real invested in the program, there is a potential return of R$185.00. The results will benefit over a dozen sectors such as rural insurance and credit; state and city agroecological and ecological-economic zonings; the Low Carbon Agriculture Plan (ABC Plan), land vulnerability of to extreme events in urban and agricultural areas; microbasin planning; and telecommunications projects, among several others. Another important effect anticipated by the experts involved is land value appreciation. TCU motivated program The absence of information on the country's soils had already been pinpointed by specialists of the area as a serious problem for national development. However, it was only after the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) was made aware of the situation that actions started to take place. In 2015, International Year of Soils, the Embrapa Soils' Pedology (science that studies soil) team elaborated a technical note stating the information gaps on Brazilian soils and the consequential damages that they could cause to the country. The document proposed the creation of Pronasolos. In the same year, TCU issued a ruling involving several ministries, which nominated Embrapa as one of the main institutions responsible for the survey. "The Court of Accounts gave us 120 days to elaborate a plan of measures to fulfill the recommendations stated in the report on the Operational Audit of Soil Governance", Polidoro affirmed. In December, a team formed by 11 Embrapa Units, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), (IBGE), Brazilian Society of Soil Science (SBCS), Brazil's Geological Service (CPRM), Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), Federal University of Piauí (UFPI) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (Mapa) drafted the first version of the document on which Pronasolos was based. Last May, Embrapa launched the special project Pronasolos with the purpose of outlining guidelines for the national program to be officialized by the Federal Government. The project defined a diagnosis and established guidelines, governance structure and funding for Pronasolos. The goal is to map 1.3 million squared kilometers in the first ten years (see table below). Stage (Years) Area covered by soil survey (km2) Scale 0 to 4 430,000 1:100.000 to 1:25.000 4 to 10 1.3 million 1:100.000 to 1:25.000 10 to 30 250,000 1:25.000 1.0 million 1:50.000 6.9 million 1:100.000 Source: Polidoro, J.C. et al. 2016 Detailing varies from one region to another A scale depicts the extent to which a given space has been reduced to be graphically represented. In simple terms, a 1:25.000 scale is much more detailed than a representation of 1:100.000 of the same portion of land. A soil survey on scale of 1:20.000 is considered detailed. Only 0.0003% of the Brazilian territory is known in such detail. In the “semidetailed” category (1: 50.000) one can find 1% of the domestic territory. Most Brazilian soils, 84%, have been mapped in the 1:250.000 scale, which is considered low detail. “Obviously the level of details varies according to the use. A forest area does not need to have the same scale of regions of strong agricultural production, which require greater detailing”, clarifies Polidoro, “defining priority areas and the necessary scales for each one is part of the Program”. For the president of the Minas Gerais Agricultural Research Corporation (Epamig), Rui da Silva Verneque, one of Pronasolos' strong points is the survey of soils in more precise scales that are suited to different land uses. “It is a strategic project for Brazil and its results will enable the development and adaptation of technologies to have agricultural activities be suited to different kinds of soil”, believes the president of the participating institution. Informing public policy on land use Márcio Koiti Chiba, a researcher from the Campinas Agronomic Institute (IAC), another participating institution, emphasizes the environmental impact and the assistance to public administration that the work is going to promote. “The data to be surveyed with Pronasolos are essential to inform public policy, not only those related to the agricultural use of the soil, but also regarding uses for other purposes with the minimum environmental impact possible”, posits the scientist. Environmental conservation is also the focus of the Paraná Agronomic Institute (Iapar). “The results will help the planning of action in microbasins, in production systems and towards agricultural environmental conservation,” anticipates the researcher Graziela Moraes de Cesare Barbosa, coordinator of the Soils area of the Paraná state institute. “The Federal University of Santa Maria is proud to make its long tradition of research in the area of soils availabe for this survey work”, declares the head of the university, Paulo Afonso Burmann. “We should celebrate the country's incisive decision to solve such important matter”, he believes. “In a territory as vast as the Brazilian one, soil management becomes even more complex”, asserts Fernanda Lins Leal Uchôa de Lima, from the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB). Directorate of Space Policy and Strategic Investments. The institution will participate in the program by offering earth observation space technologies. “We are honored to contribute”, she declares. Pronasolos* Participants Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) Brazilian Army Geographical Service(DSG) Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation** (Embrapa) Minas Gerais Agricultural Research Corporation (Epamig) Ceará Foundation of Meteorology and Water Resources (Funceme) Campinas Agronomic Institute(IAC) Paraná Agronomic Institute(Iapar) Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics(IBGE) Espírito Santo State Institute of Research, Technical Assistance and Rural Extension (Incaper) Brasil's Geological Service (CPRM/SGB) Brazilian Soil Science Society (SBCS) State University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UEMS) Federal University of Goiás (UFG) Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) Federal University of Viçosa (UFV) Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) Federal University of Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (UFVJM) Federal Rural University of the Amazon (UFRA) Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE) Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ) *Signatory institutions, other interested parties may join the program. **Participating Units: Embrapa Acre, Embrapa Western Agriculture, Embrapa Agrosilvopastoral, Embrapa Eastern Amazon, Embrapa Cerrados, Embrapa Cocais, Embrapa Forests, Embrapa Beef Cattle, Embrapa Agricultural Informatics, Embrapa Environment, Embrapa Satellite Monitoring, Embrapa Fisheries and Aquaculture, and Embrapa Soils. Translation: Mariana Medeiros