Soil Mapping and Soil Monitoring: State of Progress and Use in Italy

At national level, numerous institutions are active in the many fields involving soil information issues, for example: Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, Agency for Environment Protection and Technical Services, university soil science departments, Experimental Institute for Soil Study and Conservation, centres of the National Research Council, as CNR-IRPI). The National Committee for Soil and Soil Quality Observatory, which works within the General Directorate for Rural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture, ‘deals with proposals for a system of national and regional soil services, in order to preserve and increase the productivity of agro-forestry soils’. However, an administrative body that ensures the co-ordination of soil mapping and monitoring programmes in Italy, and deals with the multiple functions of soil resources, is not clearly identifiable.