Soil and land degradation has been a threat to sustaining life and the environment over millennia everywhere in the world. In Europe, in the Mediterranean region in particular, soil and land degradation is still a major research topic and is thus intensively and actively studied. EUROSOIL 2012, the 4th International Congress of the European Confederation of Soil Science Societies (ECSSS), was held in Bari, Italy, from 2 to 6 July 2012. The Congress focused on and developed the various aspects of fundamental and applied soil science and technology, field approaches and social, economical and political implications in relation to the present and future needs and emergencies of mankind and the environment. The Congress structure consisted of symposia, workshops and other events, including short courses, business meetings, open debates, roundtables, technical specialized meetings and/or demonstrations. Four symposia related to soil and land degradation were convened in the congress, two of which were “Soil erosion and degradation on agricultural land” and “Soil degradation in the Mediterranean: a never ending story that still needs solutions”.
The above two symposia were supported by Commission 3.5 (Soil Degradation Control, Remediation and Reclamation) of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), the Soil Degradation Research Initiative of Tokyo Metropolitan University (SDRI-TMU), Japan, and the Japanese Society of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition (JSSSPN) and presented with 25 oral papers and 64 poster papers from not only Europe but also North and South America, and Africa as well as Asia. All authors of the papers were invited to submit a full paper to be considered for publication in this special issue in order to collect novel, useful, valuable or interesting findings from the respective locations and to share them with and disseminate them to scientists, students, specialists and workers in related fields of study. The above papers together with some related papers were peer-reviewed, and a selected number of them were accepted for publication.
SDRI-TMU has been working since 2009 to provide academic and financial support for the collection, discussion and dissemination of the results and outcomes of soil degradation research by organizing or assisting symposia and publication thereof in collaboration with international, regional and national societies and organizations in related fields of science. It has co-organized, co-sponsored or assisted 11 symposia in nine international congresses, conferences and workshops and published four special issues including this one since 2009, in conjunction with the East and Southeast Asia Federation of Soil Science Societies (ESAFS) and the Japanese Society of Pedology (JSP) besides the above organizations, and will continue to do so until 2015.
We would like to thank all the reviewers for their time in reviewing the manuscripts. We are pleased that the occasion of EUROSOIL 2012 has been marked with this special issue of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition published with the support of SDRI-TMU. This issue shall be filed as “TMU Symposium Series No. 10, 2012.”