22 May 2025 | The CIFOR-ICRAF campus in Nairobi, Kenya welcomed two globally recognized leaders for a high-level listening session and field visit focused on climate justice, regenerative food systems, and innovation in African landscapes.

‍Among their long standing advocacy for women and the planet, Pat Mitchell and Rhonda Carnegie are co-founders of Project Dandelion, a women-led campaign for climate justice. Their visit to the CIFOR-ICRAF campus formed part of Project Dandelion’s global listening tour, which seeks to surface innovations in food systems, amplify women’s leadership, and strengthen connections between science, policy, and lived experience across regions.

Hosted by CIFOR-ICRAF, the session brought together researchers, early-career scientists, and technical staff working across soil health, tree biodiversity, seed systems, and spatial analytics.

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

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.