Worldwide, agriculture employs the largest portion of youth (around 60% in Africa, for example), making soil health central to youth empowerment and food security in developing countries where agriculture's contribution to GDP exceeds 20%. Youth can participate in advocacy for soil and land health through political fora, techno-communications, community action, research and more.

Roël D. Houdanon, Founder & Chief Technical Advisor of the Land and Health Association, shares his thoughts on avenues for youth participation and his unique story of moving through advocacy spaces and championing soil health, as well as a case study for youth action on the ground.

For the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH), 2023 was marked by continual learning and exponential growth, and we are celebrating by launching the inaugural Annual Report. Highlights include a reflection on our roots and growing the Coalition (which now has over 170 multistakeholder members and counting!), zooming in on key engagements, advocating for soil health in the climate agenda, achievements, lessons learned, and a look at what’s to come.

CA4SH is a multi stakeholder partnership of member states, the private sector, research institutions, civil society, farmer organizations, multilateral organizations, NGOs, and more. Drawing on this wealth of knowledge, we organized the first installation of our 2024 Webinar Series: The road ahead for soil health action.

From 26 February to 1 March 2024, the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) took place at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss global environmental policy amongst the 193 Member States.

The discussions centred on how multilateralism can help tackle the triple planetary environmental crises of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, pollution and waste. Luckily, we know well of a solution to these challenges and, indeed, all 17 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: scaling soil health, globally.

Learn more about CA4SH engagements at UNEA-6.

28 February 2024: CA4SH partners, members, allies and more met for the first quarterly partner meeting of the Coalition for the year. Topics included highlights from our 2023 engagement, upcoming initiatives, partner presentations, and group brainstorming on the strategic direction of CA4SH.

21 FEBRUARY 2024: The Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) Steering Committee met to discuss actions and foci for the coming year.

Moving forward, CA4SH is committed to keeping soil health in the agenda, scaling it to other arenas (e.g., UNCBD, UNFSS), and further articulating its presence, while moving forward through implementation on the ground and resource mobilization.

Conserve soils to meet global climate, land and biodiversity goals, say experts.

Read the full story from CIFOR Forest News

Image: Soil testing in Malawi. Photo by Kelvin Trautman/CIFOR-ICRAF

“Dr. Leigh Ann Winowiecki, member of the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) Board of Directors, and Dr. Ekwe L Dossa, IFDC Director of Soil Health and Agricultural Productivity, attended the United Nations Climate Conference (COP28), held November 30 to December 12, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. We recently sat down with Leigh and Ekwe to discuss their insights from the event.”

Read the full story from the International Fertilizer Development Centre

“Seth J. Itzkan of Soil4Climate discusses the role of holistically managed ruminants to restore soil biology and mitigate global warming. Nikita Zimov (Pleistocene Park) and Alasdair MacLeod (Macdoch Group) in attendance.”

Read the full story from Soil4Climate

December 9th, COP28 UAE - In an event held at the Land & Drought Resilience Pavilion, the Coalition of Action 4 soil Health, the WWF, CIFOR-ICRAF and AICCRA convened a discourse on the imperative need to reinforce Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by emphasizing soil health and nature-based solutions. The event, titled “Strengthening NDCs for Soil Health - learning from practical experience”, brought together a multitude of stakeholders including government representatives, scientists, farmers, and development practitioners to deliberate on critical action for soil health to shape the global climate agenda.

By Aisha and Lukas, Cycle to Farms

“Amidst Criticism, COP28 in UAE Shows Promise for Food and Agriculture

We had the honor of attending COP28 in Dubai as observers, and despite initial skepticism, we came away impressed by the positive tone and the tangible progress made on food and agriculture.”

Click to read the full story

The COP28 Presidency announced that 134 world leaders have signed up to its landmark agriculture, food and climate action declaration.

Click to read the details and download the press release and declaration.

December 5th, COP28 UAE - The Food Systems Pavilion at COP28 was filled with discussions centred around the critical theme of soil health during the event “Common Ground: Soil Health Action for Nature, People, and Climate”, organized by the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) to mark World Soil Day.

“With nearly 400 participants from 40 countries, 40+ speakers, 30+ exhibitors, plus our amazing sponsors US Biochar Initiative, Carbonfuture, KMW Energy Systems, Puro.earth, and Pyreg, plus IBI’s first media partner, the Carbon Herald, we had a vibrant three days of presentations, networking, and collaboration.”

Read the whole review from the International Biochar Initiative’s Annual Symposium

“Soils: Where food begins” will be the theme of this year’s World Soil Day on December 5. In line with this theme, the Coalition of Action for Soil Health (CA4SH) will celebrate the day at the COP28 Food Systems Pavilion by organizing a full day of events dedicated to this critical but often overlooked ecosystem. The day will end with a dinner on the margins of COP for senior leaders working within the soil health space, to stress the importance of soils as an asset and garner commitments and pledges to further the adoption of sustainable soil management practices at the global level.

Read the full story from IFA

“At the Africa Climate Summit, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), with support from AICCRA and the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH), convened an important side event ahead of the African Union's Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit later this year.”

This story was originally posted by AICCRA.

Emphasizing the critical need for sustainable farming practices, the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) and SNV held a side event on the second day of the UN Food Systems Summit Stocktaking Moment titled “From the soil up: How can agroecology and regenerative agriculture transform food systems.”

BY GONZALO MUÑOZ, HIGH-LEVEL CHAMPION FOR COP25

Farmers and fisherfolk, cities, businesses, financial institutions, and civil society are taking action to transform our food systems. The UN Food Systems Summit+2 (UNFSS+2) in Rome is set to measure and accelerate progress, marking a pivotal moment before COP28. Gonzalo Munoz, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP25, underscores the urgency to scale food systems action to achieve food and nutrition security, as a solution to deliver climate mitigation and adaptation, and protect and restore our natural world. He outlines how non-state actors can play a catalytic role towards more sustainable and resilient food systems.

On 24 July, the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH), the Agroecology Coalition, the Coalition of Action on Healthy Diets from Sustainable FS for Children and All (HDSFS), and the Food is Never Waste Coalition convened an official side event at the UN Food Systems Stocktaking Moment (UNFSS STM+2) to discuss the link between agroecology, soil health and nutrition for all.

On 15 June, the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) together with the British Society of Soil Science (BSSS), and the International “4 per 1000” Initiative, supported by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), hosted a policy dialogue luncheon at the culmination of the 58th session of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies (SBs) in Bonn, Germany.

On 15 May, the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP) convened a network session to discuss the potential the Soil Health Resolution offers for transforming food systems as per their objectives. NFP is a consortium of initiatives by Dutch organizations and partners from Low and Middle-Income Countries working towards food and nutrition security and achieving SDG2 by 2030. With soil serving as the very foundation of food systems, scaling soil health is a major part of their remit.

10 MAY 2023: The Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) hosted a Breakout Session at the AIM for Climate Summit in Washington, DC, USA. Global leaders from policy, industry, producer organisations, civil society groups, and scientists and researchers came together for the three-day Summit to drive their work on climate-smart agriculture and innovations in food systems.

The CA4SH January Partner Meeting provided updates from across the Coalition, and an opportunity for brainstorming next steps in advanving the global soil health agenda.