ABSTRACT
Among all the existing classifications only three have worldwide coverage: the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) (IUSS Working Group WRB, 2006), the USDA Soil Taxonomy (Soil Survey Staff, 1999) and the French soil classification (AFES, 1998). De facto, only the first two are used worldwide, and the French classification is only potentially suited for classifying world soils. The older version of the French soil taxonomy (CPCS, 1967) is used more often in the former French colonies than the new classification (AFES, 1998).
