Hon Penny Wensley Awarded the Distinguished Service Medal at the Centennial Celebration and Congress of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS)
At the Centennial Celebration and Congress of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) in Florence, Italy, the Honorable Penelope Wensley AC was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in recognition of her esteemed career in environmental advocacy, diplomacy, and the pursuit of scaling soil health.
The IUSS medal is one of the top soil awards in the world; it is awarded to leaders who have translated soil science into action and contributed significantly to promoting and reinforcing public policies for soil resource preservation.
Hon Penny Wensley is a long-standing advocate for sustainable systems, serving as Australia’s Ambassador for the Environment in the early 1990s. Some of her achievements from this time are championing Australia at the landmark 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and serving as a key contributor to the negotiation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the UN Biodiversity Convention (UNCBD) and the UN Convention to Combat Drought and Desertification (UNCCD).
Penny also served as Australia’s second National Soils Advocate from August 2020 - August 2023 (the government of Australia discontinued the position in August 2023). Hon Penny Wensley succeeded Hon Michael Jeffery AC who held the role from its inception in December 2012. The position of National Soils Advocate was a World-first for soils, established by then-Prime Minister, the Hon Julia Gillard MP', in response to the report of a Parliamentary Working Group on Water, Soil and Food, that advised that more attention needed to be given to raising awareness of soil and the important role that soil plays in meeting national and global challenges." The National Advocate's role was to raise awareness of the vital role soils play and to provide strong leadership and advocacy on the importance of conserving and improving the health of Australia's soils. The role included a global advocacy function: to bring together and share knowledge, expertise and resources on the critical role soils play to underpin sustainable productivity and meet global challenges, including food security and adapting to a changing climate.
Australia is one of few nations to have a National Soil Strategy, released in May 2021. As National Soils Advocate, Penny Wensley provided input into the Strategy and supported knowledge-sharing to build capacity among Australian stakeholders wishing to scale healthy soil practices.
Nowadays, Penny maintains her advocacy for soils as Patron of Soil Science Australia, the Soil Cooperative Research Centre, and the Australian Organics Recycling Association, as an independent member of the Global Soils Partnership and engaging with CA4SH!
“Climate change, environment, agriculture: big policy areas where action upon soil matters and is understood by the decision-makers.
But ... what about all the others?
Far less attention is being given to the connection between soil health and human health - to the relevance of soil for advancing foreign policy interests and ... soil as a national security issue, a national security asset ... The future of soil advocacy strategies should also commit greater effort to these subjects targeting those policy and decision-makers”
