Land and Forest Iceland
World Soil Day – spotlight on the importance of healthy soils
5th December 2025
World Soil Day, held every year on 5 December under the leadership of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), aims to raise awareness of the essential role soils play in sustaining ecosystems, supporting climate action, enabling food production and underpinning the sustainable use of natural resources. Although soils are rarely discussed in everyday conversation, they form one of the fundamental pillars of life on Earth and are among humanity’s most vital natural resources. This year, the focus is placed specifically on soils in urban environments.
Healthy urban soils make the theme of the World Soil Day 2025. Image credits: FAO
The theme for 2025, Healthy soils for healthy cities, highlights the role of soils in cities and the threats posed by sealing soils beneath urban development. Urban soils provide essential ecosystem services: they support local food production, filter and purify water, store carbon, regulate temperature extremes, and sustain biodiversity. World Soil Day 2025 is therefore a call to action for policymakers, scientists, community leaders and citizens to rethink urban environments through the lens of soil health, and to work towards cities where people and nature can thrive together.
Soils are at the heart of the work carried out by Land and Forest Iceland. Whether in ecosystem restoration, birch forest recovery, wetland rehabilitation, land reclamation or afforestation, the aim is always to protect and strengthen soils so they can store carbon, support diverse life and form the basis of resilient land ecosystems for the future. In recent years, the institution has increased its emphasis on soil research, monitoring and public education, including within projects related to birch ecosystem restoration, reclamation of degraded land and the establishment of new forests.
To mark World Soil Day, Land and Forest Iceland encourages people to pause and reflect on the many ways soil shapes our daily lives — from producing food and feed to helping mitigate the impacts of climate change. Healthy soil is not something that can be taken for granted; it reflects responsible land management, sustainable resource use and robust ecosystems, including within our towns and cities.
Web page for the World Soil Day 2025
The significance of urban soil cannot be overstated. Photo credit: Pétur Halldórsson.