The
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) developed a supra-national classification, also called
World Soil Classification, which offers useful generalizations about
soils pedogenesis in relation to the interactions with the main soil-forming factors. It was first published in form of the
UNESCO Soil Map of the World (1974) (scale 1 : 5 M.). Many of the names offered in that classification are known in many countries and do have similar meanings.