ABSTRACT
The World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) (IUSS Working Group WRB, 2006) is not a soil classification sensu stricto. It was created as a common project of two international groups, working on improving the legend for the FAO-UNESCO World Soil Map, and an International Reference Base. The main objective of the WRB is to serve as a tool for the evaluation of global soil resources. Another important task is to help correlate numerous national classifications. It was not intended to replace national classifications, rather to permit working out a common language for the specialists, a kind of ‘soil Esperanto’. Also it would help soil scientists communicate with specialists in close disciplines, who have been dissatisfied with the absence of a uniform simple soil classification. The last, but not the least function of the WRB is to serve as a legend for international soil maps. Though the precursor of the WRB, the legend for the World Soil Map (FAO-UNESCO, 1974), was made for a map of the scale 1:5,000,000, and reflected only the most general traits of soils; the latest versions were much more detailed. It permitted its use for medium-scale soil mapping in several countries, for example in Mexico, which used the FAO-UNESCO legend for soil resources inventory and then adopted the WRB as a basis for soil survey (Cruz Gaistardo et al, 2006). A good example of successful use of the WRB for soil cartography is the recently published Soil Atlas of Europe (Jones et al, 2006).
