The European Commission organised in collaboration with the authorities of the regions Brussels Capital, Flanders and Wallonia a conference to conclude the International Year of Soils 2015.

The conference was hosted by Brussels Environment and took place in the beautiful auditorium in Tour and Taxi IGBE site.

It was attended by 150 participants from national and regional public administrations from different countries, private companies, NGOs and professional associations, European institutions and International organizations.

This conference concluded the International Year of Soil 2015'Healthy Soil for healthy life' declared by 68th General Assembly of the United Nations. The International Year of Soil (IYS) was aimed to increase awareness and understanding of the importance of soil for food security and essential ecosystem functions. The IYS closed officially on the 5th December which has been declared the World Soil day by the UN General Assembly.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has been nominated to implement the IYS 2015, within the framework of the Global Soil Partnership and in collaboration with Governments and the secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Many events have been organised worldwide at International, regional national and local level during the International Year of Soil. 

At European level the European Commission and EU Member States have been very active in organising more than 400 events during the IYS. More details on the events organised at EU level can be found here.

The objective of this conference was to present an overview of initiatives organised in Belgium and in different Member States and to take stock of the current status of soils and awareness efforts to better explain the importance of soils to civil society and policy and decision makers.  The event was associated with other IYS closing events organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

The conference was opened by Mrs. Celine Fremault, Minister of Brussels Capital for Environment and Mr. Daniel Calleja Director General of DG Environment delivered a keynote speech. Ms. Sylvie MEEKERS, Head of "Soil, waste and circular economy"unit in the Office of the Minister of Wallonia for Environment Carlo Di Antonio, and Mr. Hugo Geerts, Deputy Head of Office of the Flemish Minister of Environment Joke Schauvliege participated to the panel of this opening session. The panel was moderated by M. Peter Woodward (Quest)

The second session focused on the presentation of the international context and the European context by Ms. Nordheim-Larsen, Programme Coordinator, Land Governance and Policy at United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and by Mr. Humberto Delgado Rosa, Director of Natural Capital in Directorate General for Environment of the European Commission. Ms. Ana Paya-Perez from the Joint Research Centre (European Commission) presented the new publication "Remediated sites and brownfields Success stories in Europe" from the European Information and Observation Network's National Reference Centre on soils (EIONET) and published by the European environment Agency and the European Commission.

During the Lunchtime the participants had the opportunity to look at the exhibition in the Atrium and to watch the official Celebration of the Soil Day closing the IYS in duplex with the FAO in Roma.IYS

The third session was dedicated to the presentation of the Belgian context with the achievements during the International Year of Soils, by representatives from the Brussels Capital Region (M. Saïd El Fadili), from the Flemish Region (Mr. Jan Verheyen and Ms. Brigitte Borgmans), and from the Walloon Region (Ms. Esther Goidts and Ms. Delphine de Brogniez). The last session brought together a panel of Member States representatives (Germany, the Netherlands, UK and Italy).

The conference ended up with a cocktail prepared by TV-chef Mr. Felix Alen.