A wealth of new scientific, technical and other types of knowledge relevant to soil biodiversity has been released since the establishment of the International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Soil Biodiversity in 2002 and the Global Soil Partnership in 2012, and the publication of the Status of the Worlds Soil Resources and the Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas in 2016.

This new wave of research is a consequence of tremendous growth in the methods available for the study of soil organisms by the scientific community. This research has placed soil biodiversity at the heart of international policy frameworks, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, soil biodiversity and ecosystem services will be pivotal for the success of the recently declared United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030).

This report is a result of the work of more than 300 soil scientists and experts on soil biodiversity from all regions of the world, and it presents the best available knowledge on soil biota and their ecosystem functions and services The report is a contribution to a decision . of the 14th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), that invited the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to prepare a report on the state of knowledge on soil biodiversity.