International Soil Reference and Information Centre

ISRIC - World Soil Information, also known as the International Soil Reference and Information Centre, is a science-based independent foundation. It was established in 1966, following a recommendation by the International Society of Soil Science (ISSS, now known as the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS)) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).^[1] ISRIC's role is to compile and disseminate information regarding soil resources globally, contributing to the understanding and resolution of key global issues.

ISRIC responsibilities include gathering, compilation, and distribution of soil information at global, national, and regional levels. Its objectives are organized into four main areas: Setting Standards and References, Soil Information Provisioning, Capacity Building and Advocacy, and Development of Derived Products.^[2] The organization's reference collection encompasses a range of materials, including country-specific reports, maps, and slides, as well as soil specimens (including monoliths, samples, thin sections, and hand specimens). A selection of ISRIC's soil monolith collection is on permanent display in the World Soil Museum.^[3]

ISRIC is a regular member of the ISC World Data System, and is known as WDC-Soils since 1989.^[4] ISRIC's main open access databases include WoSIS,^[5] a large database of quality-assessed and standardised soil profile data for the world, that has been used for producing soil property maps at 250 m resolution, with quantified uncertainty,for the world using state-of-the-art machine learning (SoilGrids).^[6] and many other applications.