All scientific societies dealing with soil issues provide skilled knowledge on soils, their classification, evaluation, management and conservation as well as links to other sciences, for example geology, hydrology, microbiology, ecology and agricultural sciences. Processes in the soil, but also interactions with other media such as air and water as well as biota are among the key interests. As these complex issues and the importance of soil are not so obvious to all people international, regional and national Soil Science Societies have been engaged in education, in particular in the International Year of Soils 2015. This engagement shall be prolonged in the International Decade of Soils 2015-2024, which was proclaimed by the International Union of Soil Sciences. The soil science societies shall work together and exchange ideas how knowledge about soils can be included into other sciences as well as in curricula of universities and schools. This knowledge is needed to answer questions related to sustainability and to achieve the UN sustainable development goals until 2030.
Contributions demonstrating good examples of capacity building, soil awareness and knowledge transfer to different target groups are welcome. In particular contributions that
• show new educational approaches,
• cooperation with other disciplines and
• efforts to improve sustainability
are of interest.