The 13th East and Southern Sub-Committee meeting (EASCO) will take place from 30th May to 5th June 2005. The plenary session will be held in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) on the 30th May, followed by a training field trip along a transect ending in Naivasha (Kenya) on the 5th June 2005.

The theme of this meeting is: Harmonization and Dissemination of Soil Knowledge for sustainable Land Management: training on World Reference Base (WRB) and land use planning.

In accordance with the EASCO terms of reference, the main objectives of this meeting are to promote, discuss and harmonize: (i) soil classification systems, particularly the World Reference Base (WRB) for soil resources inventory and management within the sub- region; (ii) land use planning as a tool for better land care strategy development; (iii) the strategy for providing appropriate land resources information for the implementation of UN related conventions at national and sub-regional levels.

Three specialists from the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) will contribute to the training in the use of the new soil classification named World Reference Database for Soil Resources (WRB). Key issues to discuss along the transect are: soil correlation (WRB), land use planning, land degradation, land rehabilitation/management and international Conventions.

The meeting, organized by the Regional Office for Africa in collaboration with the Department of Research Development/Ministry of Agriculture (DRD-Tanzania) and Kenya Soil Survey/Kenya Agricultural Research Institue (KARI/KSS), will be attended by participants from: Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.