Significant advances have been made in recent years in our understanding of soil carbon sequestration, soil nutrient transformation as influenced by different fertilizers and croppingland use systems, and the movement and storage of water in agro-ecosystems. Nuclear techniques have played a unique role in generating new knowledge and quantitative data on key processes in integrated crop and livestock systems. This new information is being used to improve farm management practices to increase productivity, on-farm and area-wide ecosystem service efficiency and to protect the soil resource from degradation. Hand-inhand with these developments has been major advances in instrumentation and methodologies for measuring stable isotope tracers in real time in the field.

The objective of this International Symposium, the first to be held in this fi eld at the IAEA since October 2000, is to communicate these exciting scientific and technological developments, to identify current gaps in knowledge and to discuss ways in which soils can be better managed to meet the challenge of protecting food security and enhancing agricultural sustainability through the dual approach of climate change adaptation and mitigation. The Symposium will also provide a forum to highlight important linkages between science and policy through the Global Soil Partnership initiative to enhance sustainable agriculture and ecosystem services of natural resources.