ANSIS for national assessments, policy making and reporting
ANSIS for national assessments, policy making and reporting
For future prosperity, we need to care for our soils.
Soil is important
Our food grows in soil.
Soil helps to regulate our climate and water quality and supports our biodiversity and environment.
Soil can store carbon, which means it helps mitigate global warming.
Soil also supports our infrastructure and cities, our heritage, and the way we live.
Our national soil data are not consistent
Our soil data is collected by many organisations in many different ways, making it difficult to access soil data that is consistent nationally.
When policy makers need consistent soil data across Australia, there is no one place to go to as the data is with different organisations and in different formats making it very difficult to use.
Soil data and information needed for policy
To design policies that support good land management practices, policy makers need the best available soil data and information to make informed decisions, that ensure Australia’s soil is sustainably used and enhanced for future generations.
Nationally consistent soil data is needed for improving knowledge and understanding of soil.
Australian soil data and information are used in international and national reporting. The data may be used in global environmental modelling or directly in reporting.
These efforts help us to better understand where the biggest opportunities occur and identify the greatest vulnerabilities.
ANSIS will provide access to consistent soil data and information
ANSIS provides the infrastructure and process to efficiently combine our differing and disparate soil data sets to form consistent and comparable information. This data can be used for soil maps for the entire country, data for modelling and forecasting systems, and allow the identification and appropriate management of threats and opportunities.
An example of this is the development of a national carbon sequestration potential map. This map highlights which soils have potential to store carbon or are most vulnerable to lose carbon.
These maps could be developed using global or other datasets. However, by using ANSIS we can create them with the best available information providing maximum coverage of Australia’s soils, facilitating more certainty for decision making and reporting.
Soil data can be used for so much more
ANSIS will be the new trusted system to find nationally consistent, standardised, easy to use, and accessible soil data and information. ANSIS will provide access to standardised data and information on a range of soil properties relevant to policy priorities including:
Agricultural productivity and demonstrating best practice
Food security
Clean and secure water resources and marine management
Climate change adaptation, mitigation and resilience to shocks
Carbon sequestration: current and potential
Biodiversity, ecosystem functions and sustainably managing the environment.
ANSIS for national assessments, policy making and reporting