Asking for your input
Dear all,
Following the Austin Conference on Soil Modeling, we would like to ask for your input towards the formulation of the mission statement of the ISMC.
Please find below the text that we formulated on behalf of the organising committee. We would be more than happy to receive your comments on this here in this forum.
With kind regards on behalf of the organising committee
Andrea Schnepf
Mission statement
The mission of the International Soil Modeling Consortium (ISMC) is to integrate and advance soil systems modeling, data gathering and observational capabilities. It aims for a definitive quantification of soil ecosystem services, impacts of climate change, land use and agricultural intensification on soils and terrestrial systems at scales ranging from local to global. The ISMC will endeavor to develop the next-generation modeling and knowledge platform for fusing models and observations and interface with advanced climate, biosphere, terrestrial, and earth systems models. The specific objectives of the ISMC are:
The proposition of WG5 for the ISMC mission is: "to quantify the role of soils in our physical and socio-cultural environment". I find that more general than "to integrate and advance soil systems modeling, data gathering and observational capabilities", which are 3 possible ways to reach the mission stated before.
I would therefore rephrase the first sentence as:" The mission of the International Soil Modeling Consortium (ISMC) is to quantify the role of soils in our physical and socio-cultural environment by integrating and advancing soil systems modeling, data gathering and observational capabilities."