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Results of the first Open Meeting for the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (GSBI)

The Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (GSBI), a scientific effort, held its first open meeting in the East End of London, UK, March 2012. International attendees, from 13 countries participated in the meeting. The group evaluated current information and concluded that there is an urgent need to integrate the rapidly accumulating knowledge on soil biodiversity and ecosystem services into management and policy decisions of all global lands, both managed and natural.

The meeting began with introductions from the founders of GSBI and then broke out into four working groups: (I am going to space this out and post photos of the groups) policy, methods, key remaining questions, and management and vulnerabilities. Each group identified currently available work, and areas requiring additional research. Each group produced a report, all of which were then synthesized into a White Paper. Key features of the White Paper include the initiation of the global soil biodiversity assessment, identification of key knowledge gaps in soil biodiversity, and potential directions for the future of the GSBI.