SOILGUARD will centre its research on obtaining a holistic picture of soil biodiversity status in relation to two major challenges, land degradation and unsustainable soil management. To do that, we are creating an ambitious cross-biome network of sites in different parts of the globe, with the aim to increase our understanding of soil species distributions across biogeographical regions. This network will include sites corresponding to three different biomes (agroecosystems, grasslands, and forests), under different types of management (conventional vs. organic) and with different status of soil degradation. The biodiversity and ecosystem services assessment will be crucial to depict the effects of degradation and unsustainability on soil life and the cascading effects on people’s well-being. See below in the map for the Land Degradation Maps.