CA4SH & CIFOR-ICRAF Underscored Soil Health Monitoring at the 2025 International Rangelands Conference
Rangelands cover more than half of the Earth’s surface and are a critical ecosystem, deeply rooted in traditional, indigenous land uses and livelihoods, and a major player for carbon sequestration, food and nutrition security, biodiversity, and climate adaptation. Despite providing these key services, they are often overlooked in global agendas in favour of forests or crop-based food systems. For example, a 2022 study of over 6000 peer-reviewed and gray literature on ecosystem restoration found that 78% focused on forests, while only 6% focused on grasslands and 3% on drylands.
The International Rangelands Congress (IRC) is a dedicated space for researchers, practitioners, government officials and more to convene on behalf of restoring and protecting rangelands. Held from 2-6 June 2025 in Adelaide, Australia, the 2025 IRC was themed ‘Working Together for our Global Rangelands Future’. As scientific and multistakeholder organizations, the CIFOR-ICRAF Soil and Land Health Research Theme and the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) attended and led several sessions at the Congress, including a two-day pre-Congress workshop on the upcoming Global Rangelands Standard and supporting rangelands monitoring framework.
STELLAR stand from ILRI, co-organized with CIFOR-ICRAF. (Photo Credit: Leigh Winowiecki)
Healthy Soil Underpins Healthy Rangelands
Photo: Dryland plants have deep root systems and immense carbon storage potential (Location: Eastern Kenya). Credit: Kelvin Trautman
While several sessions on soil organic carbon and soil health were held at IRC 2025, there is still scope for more spotlight on the critical role of healthy soil for productive rangelands. As one rancher attending the conference stated, “I am not a cow farmer, but a root farmer,” stressing that without healthy soil, their livestock will not have anything to eat.
Dr Beverly Henry (Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Future Environments, Queensland University of Technology) presented on opportunities for improving SOC in rangelands, underscoring the role of soil organic matter for soil fertility and agricultural productivity, as well as overall ecosystem health.
Dr Beverly Henry (Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Future Environments, Queensland University of Technology). Photo Credit: Leigh Winowiecki
Under the leadership of Dr Leigh Winowiecki (Soil and Land Health Research Theme Lead for CIFOR-ICRAF and Co-Lead of CA4SH) and Dr Tor-Gunnar Vågen (Principal Scientist and Head of CIFOR-ICRAF SPACIAL [Spatial Data Science and Applied Learning Lab]), the CIFOR-ICRAF suite of initiatives for increasing rangeland health continues to grow and gain momentum. Projects like Restore4More, Regreening Africa, Restoration of rangeland carbon sinks, Assessment and mapping of rangeland health and soil organic carbon in southern Ethiopia, and the widespread application of the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF) to underpin these initiatives are just a few examples of the work that positions CIFOR-ICRAF as a leading scientific institution in the field of rangeland health.
Presenting on behalf of the Restore4More project, principal researcher Dr Aida Bargues Tobella (Researcher working with Agrotecnio - CERCA Centre and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) shared insights and outcomes on rangeland restoration in East Africa. Dr Bargues Tobella underscored the inextricable link between the climate crisis, human wellbeing and land restoration, demonstrating that we can not address one without addressing the others. Restore4More is grounded in scientific approaches to land restoration, utilising the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF) to monitor soil organic carbon and understand how land use changes affect soil health.
Also utilising the LDSF, the Assessment and mapping of rangeland health in East Africa and globally project builds on long-term and robust data collected in the field across a range of rangeland systems in East Africa using the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF). Dr Vagen presented results from the project including the impact of woody and non-woody vegetation (species, structure, cover, above-ground biomass, diversity), soil inherent properties (soil texture, pH), and land management (grazing and browsing intensity) on ecosystem functioning and the delivery of key ecosystem services, including erosion control, water regulation (soil infiltration capacity), and carbon storage. Dr Vagen also highlighted the project approach, which utilises citizen science to enhance the participation of local communities, and in particular women and youth, to increase transparency and social inclusion in the various phases of rangeland restoration. The Regreening Africa app is one tool in this process, and to date, it has more than 200,000 farmers and land managers registered.
The need for systematic monitoring | Pre-Congress Workshop: Toward the Global Rangelands Standard & Monitoring Framework
In the days leading up to the 2025 IRC, CIFOR-ICRAF contributed to a workshop on the STELARR (Sustainable Investments in Large-Scale Rangeland Restoration) initiative, which is funded by the Global Environment Facility, implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and executed by an array of partners including the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT, CIFOR-ICRAF, GMV Solution, International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas, and the Sustainable Fibre Alliance.
Opened by Dr David McElroy (Head of Standards for the Sustainable Fibre Alliance), the pre-congress workshop aimed to:
Introduce the Rangelands Stewardship Council, and
Present the draft Global Rangelands Standard and supporting monitoring framework for consultation.
Dr David Phelps, President of the IRC, addresses the pre-Congress workshop. Photo Credit: Leigh Winowiecki
The main objective of STELLAR is to scale rangeland restoration with support from private sector finance through incentives, including a Global Standard that rewards stewardship and restoration of rangeland systems. For example, rangelands products produced sustainably and according to a set of ecological, environmental, social and animal welfare standards will be recognised through the standard that the Sustainable Fibre Alliance is leading.
In progress is the establishment of a Rangelands Stewardship Council (RSC) to apply and oversee the standard in the long term. Dr Zara Morris-Trainor (Board of Trustees & Steering Committee Member, RSC) shared an introduction to the RSC mission, vision, approach and development so far in an opening address to the pre-Congress workshop.
Despite their importance, our understanding of rangelands is still limited, due in part to a lack of comparability across assessment methods. This includes a lack of consistency across monitoring methods and the indicators monitored. CIFOR-ICRAF is co-designing a rangeland monitoring framework to support the Standard and beyond to:
Assess the impacts of land management on rangeland health,
Establish robust biophysical baselines,
Provide consistent protocols to monitor changes in rangeland health over time,
Guide policy and investment, and
Help understand what works, where, and for whom.
During the Pre-Congress Workshop, stakeholders provided feedback on the draft Global Rangelands Standard and the supporting monitoring framework which combines systematic field-based assessments, with citizen science and remote sensing to deliver accurate assessments of rangeland health outcomes at scales relevant to all stakeholders (pastoralists, value chain actors, land managers, standards experts, and policy makers) and to track interventions over time. This was the second stakeholder consultation (the first was in Kenya in October 2024) where key principles, indicators, and sampling design were discussed, debated and refined.
Some of the key feedback from the 2025 session included:
Agreement on the need for consistent monitoring of rangelands globally
A set of core biophysical indicators is needed, with additional context-specific modules added as needed
Stratified sampling design is an efficient and robust sampling method
A need for multiple indicators around vegetation, soil, and hydrology
Over the next six months, the monitoring framework will continue to be revised and piloted.
Please reach out to engage!
Next Steps Toward Global Rangeland Monitoring
Awareness around the importance of rangelands in global food systems, climate adaptation, livelihood development, ecosystem restoration, and reversing land degradation. The 2025 IRC was a meaningful and hopeful step in consolidating this momentum in one dedicated space and charting a way forward for multiple stakeholders to take action to restore and protect this vital ecosystem. Soil health is critical for functioning rangelands, so CA4SH is enthusiastically fostering an ongoing space for stakeholders to meet and collaborate for healthy soil and healthy rangelands.
CA4SH and our partners are also exploring opportunities to fundraise to establish a global network of rangeland monitoring and learning sites to support the objectives of the STELLAR initiative, and contribute to a wider knowledge base that supports and upholds soil health data and monitoring initiatives all over the World.
Get Involved
Contact Dr Leigh Ann Winowiecki at l.a.winowiecki@cifor-icraf.org
Contact Dr Tor-Gunnar Vågen at t.vagen@cifor-icraf.org
Key Resources:
Rangeland Monitoring Framework to Assess Impact of Interventions
Presentation Slides | Scaling rangeland restoration in drylands through synergies in the biodiversity-water-climate nexus (Bargues Tobella et al.)
Presentation Slides | Global Rangelands Standard Monitoring Framework: Developing a Comprehensive Monitoring System for Rangeland Health (Vagen & Winowiecki)
