We are pleased to report the launch of a new Global Scientific Assessment on Soil Biodiversity as a result of an international meeting organized by the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (GSBI in London, England, March 2012). At the meeting, scientists and policy makers agreed that advances in understanding of the living organisms in soil and what they do for people and society can be used to help manage and sustain soils for the future. These provisions include clean air, pure water, nutrients for crops, sequestration of carbon, and regulation of pests and disease; therefore a Global Soil Biodiversity Assessment (GSBA) will gather data and examples of how soil biodiversity and its services can be measured and will be the core of GSBI’s future action plan that will be presented at Rio+20.