During tbe last decade it bas been increasingly realized tbat tbe beavy demand on tbe limited land resources of tbe world bas made it necessary to protect culti- vated soUs from degradation and to reclaim tbose areas whicb bave lost tbeir pro- ductivity. Witb special reference to saline and alkaline soUs tbe International Society of Soll Science set up, in 1964, a Subcommission on Salt Mfected Solls witb a view to identifying and locating tbe salt affected solls of tbe world. Tbis Subcommission was entrusted witb tbe preparation of a world map of salt affected soils at scale 1 :5,000,000, a project wbicb it is conducting in cooperation witb tbe Hungarian Acad- emy of Sciences and Unesco. The present publication covers tbe European section of tbe world map of salt affected solls. It is tbe outcome of an international cooperation of soll scientists from different European countries wbo contributed tbe material necessary for tbe compilation of tbe map. Cooperation was also establisbed witb tbe F AO/Unesco Soll Map of tbe World project in order to secure correlation witb tbe international legend.
Tbe profile descriptions included in this explanatory text and tbe criteria pro- posed for tbe subdivision of salt affected solls provide a basis for tbe transfer of in- formation and experience witbin the framework of aglobal inventory of soll re- sources. The publication draws attention to tbe potential hazards of salinity and alkalinlty wbicb may be a cause of failure of cost1y irrigation and land reclamation projects.
