From 14–16 October 2025, the Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils (GFCs) from the World Economic Forumtook place in Dubai, UAE. The GFCs are the World’s foremost multistakeholder and interdisciplinary knowledge network dedicated to promoting innovative thinking to shape a more resilient, inclusive and sustainable future. Each of the 37 Councils’ thematic insights are taken forward by the Forum’s ongoing initiatives, communities and meetings to ensure impact. The October meeting brought together over 500 global experts and 150 cybersecurity leaders to address the complex intersections of technology, resilience, and sustainability.

The GFC on Soils was established by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a strategic and timely response to the escalating global crisis of soil degradation. With over one-third of the world’s soils already degraded and desertification threatening food security, climate stability, and biodiversity, the council was formed to galvanize international action and innovation around soil health.

Seven of Earth’s nine planetary boundaries – the natural systems that keep our planet stable – have now been breached.

Climate disasters are disrupting industries from agriculture to finance, exposing deep vulnerabilities in supply chains, infrastructure and communities worldwide.

From precision fermentation to green concrete, what are the most promising emerging technologies that can strengthen planetary resilience when climate risks know no boundaries?

Watch a recroding from the session at the 2025 World Economic Forum and download the report in collaboration with Frontiers, highlighting how innovation can help restore balance within these limits.

As Brazil prepares to host COP30 in Belém, CGIAR Climate Action, together with the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Ministerio da Agricultura - MAPA), Embrapa, and CGIAR Multifunctional Landscapes, are convening a series of high-level dialogues to put biological solutions at the center of climate action in agriculture.

This webinar showcased how biological nutrient management technologies can be mainstreamed across cropping systems through evidence-based solutions that align science, policy, and practice. By highlighting innovations in phosphorus solubilization, microbial inoculants, and integrated crop-livestock-agroforestry systems, the session aimed to catalyze increased investment from governments, private sector actors, and development partners while demonstrating concrete pathways for farmers to reduce input dependency and enhance soil health at scale.

The sun rises over the vast savannas of Lumo Conservancy in Taita Taveta, casting a golden glow across the horizon. Elephants move calmly across the rangelands, leaving soft footprints in the soil. Nearby, antelopes and other herbivores feed in groups, nibbling at the tough grasses. The land, though alive, bears the marks of a harsh climate scarred by heat and irregular rains. Yet just beneath the open-cracked soil is a hidden network, a secret force of life that continues to perpetuate life in a chaotic paradigm of failure even at a time when everything else fails. This hidden life is arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). These fungi live in the soil and form a symbiotic relationship with plants. You may not see them, but their impact is clear. Without AMF, many plants would struggle to survive in the tough conditions of the rangelands.

Learn more from the field, by Lukelysia Mwangi, Research Associate, Living Soils at CIFOR-ICRAF

From 31st August, 2025 to 5th September,  2025, the 15th Africa Food Systems Forum took place in Dakar, Senegal under the theme "Africa's Youth: Leading Collaboration, Innovation and Implementation of Agri-Food Systems Transformation". The 2025 forum convened over 6,000 stakeholders from 106 countries, representing more than 120 institutions. The Coalition of Action for Soil Health (CA4SH), alongside partners and #Youth4Soil, played a pivotal role across multiple high-level sessions, advancing the soil health agenda and youth engagement in sustainable agri-food systems transformation. 

CIFOR-ICRAF has been conducting a series of trainings on Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI) in forest and landscape restoration for Community Forest Associations (CFAs) in Makueni County, Kenya as part of the UK PACT project.

To date, the trainings have reached more than 600 individuals, emphasizing the importance of gender equity in achieving sustainable restoration outcomes. Over the past two years of implementation, some common themes have emerged, highlighting that many CFA members feel held back by their current level of skill in agroforestry practices and soil conservation techniques. In response, CIFOR-ICRAF followed up with technical, on-farm training in sustainable agroforestry practices and composting for soil conservation.

As COP30 approaches, Dr Leigh Ann Winowiecki from the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) asserts the need to include non-state actors in global discussions to unlock soil health’s vital role in resilient food systems, climate solutions and planetary well-being.

Read the full Op-Ed published by New Food Magazine

The second United Nations Food Systems Summit Stocktake (UNFSS+4) was held from 27–29 July 2025 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, co-hosted by the Governments of Ethiopia and Italy. Marking four years since the inaugural 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, UNFSS+4 served as a critical moment to assess progress, deepen partnerships, and mobilize investments to accelerate food systems transformation globally.

The Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH)—established during the 2021 Summit—was actively engaged throughout the Stocktake. CA4SH co-hosted two thematic side events, co-organized a joint session with fellow UNFSS Coalitions of Action, and showcased its work through an exhibition booth, amplifying the role of healthy soil in delivering on food, nutrition, climate, nature, and land goals.

The International Rangelands Congress is held every four years to promote the interchange of scientific and technical information on all aspects of rangelands: research, planning, development, management, extension, education and training. Its most recent gathering in Adelaide, Australia in early July 2025 was a welcome opportunity to get feedback from the good and the great of rangelands science and practice on the global rangeland standard and monitoring framework being developed with support from the GEF-funded project STELARR (Sustinable Investment for Large-Scale Rangeland Restoration). It also contributed to the momentum of discussions on the role of private sector investment in rangeland restoration—a hot topic for Congress attendees!

The recent establishment of a mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy laboratory at the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in the capital city of Banjul is set to bring wide-reaching benefits to decision-making by providing inclusive and fast analysis compared to conventional laboratory techniques. MIR offers a faster, more inclusive and cost-effective way to analyse soil health, enabling large-scale projects, including national surveys and supporting sustainable farming and landscape restoration.

The MIR lab in The Gambia is part of a growing network led by CIFOR-ICRAF’s Soil-Plant Spectral Diagnostics Laboratory in Nairobi, which has pioneered dry spectral soil analysis across Africa since 2009.

In 2023, the Kenyan Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry developed a national strategy, the Forest and Landscape Restoration Plan (FOLAREP) to apply nature-based solutions to conserve forests and combat land degradation. Forest conservation offers a highly effective carbon-capturing sink and maintains biodiversity and other ecosystem services.

CIFOR-ICRAF has been working to develop county-specific plans for Makueni and Taita-Taveta counties in partnership with local governments, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the African Wildlife Foundation through the UKPACT Nature-based solutions project funded by the UK government.

Excerpt:

Soil health took centre stage at the June Climate Meetings (SB 62) in Bonn as the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH), in partnership with EIT Food and CIFOR-ICRAF, launched a pioneering global network of Soil Action Hubs. The Hubs will act as a collection of decentralised platforms designed to accelerate local soil regeneration, investment and innovation. EIT Food is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.

By Albert Mwangeka

Taita- Taveta County, Kenya: Taita Taveta County has launched the Forest Landscape Restoration Implementation Plan (FOLAREP), a bold initiative targeting the restoration of 226,420 hectares of degraded land. The launch coincided with the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, underscoring the country’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

Les producteurs de coton de Côte d'Ivoire sont confrontés aux effets du changement climatique, mais une solution existe sous leurs pieds. Dans une série de podcasts en deux parties, des agriculteurs de la région de Korhogo partagent leurs expériences de travail avec l'équipe du CIFOR-ICRAF pour améliorer la santé de leurs sols, leurs moyens de subsistance et leurs rendements.

Écouter ici

• Côte d’Ivoire: les producteurs de coton dans la déprime [1/2]

• Côte d’Ivoire : quelles pistes pour sortir de la crise du coton ? [2/2]

Every year on 17 June, the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) joins in with our global partners, allies, and Coalition members in celebrating World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. CA4SH is firmly rooted in the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought (UNCCD). In this op-ed, Dr Leigh Winowiecki (CA4SH Co-Lead and Soil and Land Health Research Theme Lead for CIFOR-ICRAF) looks to this day as a beacon to celebrate our successes and reflect on our way forward as a multistakeholder organization committed to restoring and protecting land.

Rangelands 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. 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 2025 International Rangelands Congress (IRC) from 2-6 June 2025 in Adelaide Australia, including a two-day pre-congress workshop toward a Global Rangelands Standard & Monitoring Framework.

At the 13th Session of the Global Soil Partnership Plenary Assembly, the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) and the “4 per 1000” Initiative highlighted role of evidence to inform policy and practice, as well as the critical importance of multistakeholder action to improve soil health globally. 

27 May 2025: The Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) and the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS) co-hosted a webinar exploring the role of multi-stakeholder action in addressing financing, implementation, and knowledge barriers to scaling soil health solutions.

From February 5th to 9th 2025, I and three other Community Facilitators working with CIFOR-ICRAF in Kenya were privileged to attend a Syntropic Agroforestry and Regenerative Regenerative Agriculture course at ForestFoods in Limuru, Kenya. It was an awesome 4-day training course with intensive learning about the topic coupled with lectures and field activities.

Story and photos by Clemence Mnyika, Community Facilitator with CIFOR-ICRAF Kenya and Member of #Youth4Soil

27 March 2025: The Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) is thrilled to announce the launch of the 2024 Annual Report, marking significant milestones for the Coalition and for global soil health. 2024 was a big year CA4SH; we engaged global stakeholders in united advocacy to scale soil health through our priority areas of action, including science, policy, finance, youth engagement, and implementation on the ground. Additionally, we grew our membership from 159 to 258 global partners from across sectors and scales.

Learn more about the report, access the social media toolkit, and download the full report here!