On January 30 2024, at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), a scientific symposium titled "Soils and their biodiversity" was held as part of the international event "Soils Weeks", established within the framework of SOLO. Pensoft Publishers organised the event with the partnership of the National Museum of Natural History. The meeting was attended by 30 stakeholders from various fields, such as science, business, farming and the media.

The first part of the event included multiple lectures, presented by national soil experts who presented topics such as:

• "Soil biodiversity in Bulgaria"
• "Conservation aspects of soil fauna"
• "Biomonitoring of ecosystems from the polar region of Livingston Island (Antarctica) under global changes"
• "Soil, water and climate for sustainable agriculture"
• "Soil invasive species in Bulgaria"
• "Using AI to advance regenerative agriculture"
• "Publication, dissemination and communication of scientific data on soil biodiversity"

The second part of the event was a discussion between all participants to identify the main knowledge gaps, bottlenecks and possible solutions to protecting soil biodiversity and improving soil literacy in Bulgaria. One of the main topics discussed during the event was the need for contemporary educational materials on soil health and soil biodiversity, which will help for better conservation of soil biodiversity as well as enhance the overall soil literacy in the country.

After identifying possible issues and their solutions, the participants in the event expressed interest in creating a national network that will create recommendations for policymakers on different national and regional soil-related issues.