At GLF Africa 2026 in Nairobi, conversations around restoration repeatedly returned to one central idea: healthy rangelands cannot exist without the people who know, manage, and live within them.

Held at the CIFOR-ICRAF campus during the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP 2026), the conference brought together researchers, pastoralist leaders, restoration practitioners, policymakers, and youth advocates to explore the future of Africa’s landscapes in the face of climate uncertainty, biodiversity loss, and land degradation.

Regional leaders, scientists, policymakers, and development partners gathered at the ICRAF Campus in Nairobi on January 27–28, 2026 for the inception workshop of a groundbreaking initiative: Establishing an ecosystem of soil data-driven services to meet the Global Fertilizer and Soil Health Challenge. The workshop was anchored in the three‑year project titled “Establishing an Ecosystem of Soil Data-Driven Services to Meet the Global Fertilizer and Soil Health Challenge.” The initiative is implemented by CIFOR-ICRAF and the Coalition of Action for Soil Health (CA4SH) in collaboration with the Varda Foundation, with financial support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). It builds on a soil knowledge exchange pilot conducted in 2024 in Kenya and Tanzania, which identified key barriers and opportunities for strengthening collaborative soil data ecosystems