Soil is the floor and the roof of our Earth. However, it has attracted scientific attention relatively late. First, the need to protect air resources was noticed and implemented, then drinking water. Despite its enormous importance for recycling life on the entire planet, soil has been neglected in terms of research and has long been left out of care as a biodiverse ecosystem. It has often been treated as a place for waste disposal, pouring out poisons, xenobiotics and others. In the last decade, we have observed an increase in awareness of the consequences of industrial and agricultural activities, which results from education and programs supporting sustainable practices. However, intensive anthropogenic pressure still leads to air and water pollution, loss of biodiversity and often to the pollution and degradation of soil resources. In the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, clean, fertile and biologically active soil is therefore a very important element.

We are pleased to announce that the Earthworm Specialist Group, initiated by professor Maria J. I. Briones from the University of Vigo in Spain and professor George G. Brown from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), has just been accepted by the IUCN SSC and will begin its work based on international cooperation. The aim of this group is to promote the importance of the edaphon (including earthworms) for the health of soil ecosystems and to assess the current status of endemic earthworm species and prepare plans for their protection. Among the formal members of the IUCN SSC group commissions is Professor Joanna Kostecka from the Faculty of Technology and Life Sciences of the University of Rzeszów. We wish all members of this international group fruitful work of deep social importance.

IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) is an international organization that works to protect nature. It is the world's largest and most diverse network in the field of environmental protection.

IUCN's mission is to encourage and assist societies to protect the diversity of nature and to ensure that sustainable economies of nations and the global world are built through equitable and ecologically sustainable use of natural resources.

The Species Survival Commission is a scientific network of thousands of expert volunteers from almost every country in the world, working together to achieve the vision of "a just world that values and protects nature through positive action to both prevent the loss of and help restore the diversity of life on Earth."