Healthy soil is essential for ecosystem restoration, biodiversity conservation, food security and nutrition, and climate mitigation and adaptation. At the COP30 plenary session “From Policy to the Ground: Scaling Action for Healthy Soil”, governments, development agencies, farmer organizations, and youth networks came together to reflect on how policies can drive real change for soil health, and it must be brought into the center of climate negotiations.

At the heart of COP30’s Blue Zone, the Action on Food Hub became a stage for one of the most urgent conversations of our time: how to scale farmer-centered restoration through the power of youth leadership. On Saturday, 15 November 2025, global voices converged to spotlight the role of young changemakers in driving soil health, food security and climate resilience.

The session was organized by the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) in partnership with leading youth networks—including the Youth4Soil Initiative, the UNCCD Youth Caucus, Global Landscapes Forum Restoration Stewards, World Food Forum, International Association for Agriculture Students (IAAS), YOUNGO, and the Young Professionals for Agriculture Development (YPARD). Participants represented a global population from India, Belgium, Netherlands, Costa Rica, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Peru, and more.

The Global Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) Conference is more than a knowledge exchange platform; it is a platform to incite climate action in agriculture. Immediately preceding the UN Climate Conference (UNFCCC COP30) taking place in Belem, Brazil, organizers of the 2025 CSA conference saw this year’s assembly as a critical opportunity to align on the future of food and agriculture ahead of COP30.

As an organization with action as a primary tenet, the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) was invited to co-chair the Soil Health and Plant Nutrition thematic session with partners from the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC). The session comprised two sub-sessions on 5th and 6th November, dedicated to finance and technology, respectively. Below, we summarize the innovations and key messages shared in these sessions, and chart a way forward for soil health at COP.

The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and the African Union Commission have convened a Soil Health Monitoring Task Force to design and operationalize a systematic, scientifically sound monitoring system aligned with the CAADP Biennial Review (BR) process. 

Ahead of the CAADP Partnership Platform (CAADP PP), which took place in Kigali, Rwanda, from 29-31 October 2025, AGRA supported the convening of the Task Team meeting on 27 and 28 October. The validation meeting provided a platform for the Task Force to present its work on building a soil health monitoring system in support of the AFSH Action Plan, including identifying key indicators and a relevant soil health definition. Members of the Task Force and the broader AFSH stakeholder group attended and provided feedback through several participatory workshop sessions.

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.

Today, EU lawmakers listened to citizens and science and rubber stamped the deal on the Soil Monitoring Law, the EU’s first ever law on soil health, after months of negotiations. Despite severe shortcomings of the endorsed text, this is an important milestone towards addressing Europe’s crisis of soil degradation. Its success will depend on impactful implementation.

Stories of Change to capture innovation journeys and invisible transformative changes

The DeSIRA initiative is a portfolio of 80 research and innovation (R&I) projects run in over 65 countries across three continents between 2019 and 2026, supported by a European Union contribution of €340 million. DeSIRA aims to enhance the contribution of R&I in addressing complex issues relating to sustainability transitions and agrifood system (AFS) transformation, towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, in low- and middle-income countries.

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. 

Climate change is no longer a distant threat—it’s a daily reality for millions of people around the world. And nowhere is this more evident than in the systems that feed us.

Farmers and fishers are on the frontlines of a crisis they did not create. As the climate shifts, so too must our approach to food. It’s time to put food and agricultural systems at the centre of climate adaptation.

Read the full story from WWF

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.

Soil health is the foundation of agriculture and therefore a crucial prerequisite for feeding humanity. Minhaj Ameen from the Agroecology Fund on how healthy soils can be achieved.

March 31, 2025: Healthy soil is the cornerstone of sustainable development, playing a critical role in climate regulation, combating desertification, and supporting biodiversity and ecosystems. Yet, unsustainable land management and climate change are increasing soil degradation and threatening the rich biodiversity beneath our feet.

At the Forum for the Future of Agriculture Conference in Brussels, SOILGUARD partners convened farmers, researchers, advisors, policymakers and interested stakeholders to reflect on the role of soil biodiversity and management in shaping effective policies. The Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) joined the event and shares the following insights from the discussion, highlighting the urgent need to effectively integrate soil health into policy and practice. 

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!

The Coalition of Action for Soil Health (CA4SH) #Youth4Soil Working Group held its inaugural Virtual Soil Solutions showcase on Thursday, 6th March 2025. The event was dubbed “We Grow We Eat” to celebrate soil as a growing medium for 95% of the world's food. The showcase provided a platform for #Youth4Soil members to exhibit the soil health solutions they are already implementing in their local contexts and interact with key stakeholders to grow those solutions.

On 19 February 2025, more than 70 partners from across the CA4SH network attended the first partner meeting of 2025 to share progress made and the next steps for scaling global soil health. The CA4SH Steering Committee also convened this month to discuss the action areas identified in the partner meeting and strategized the way forward for the Coalition.

The following update provides key takeaways from the two meetings and outlines action points that partners can take to engage with the Coalition and scale soil health globally.

Soil health policies are stars for our soil, without whom our advancement towards global soil health would remain slower than the rate at which we are depleting our soils. The importance of soil health policies can be summarized into three pros: protect, probe and promote. 

On 14 January 2025, the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) hosted a reflection webinar for a recent pilot initiative from CIFOR-ICRAF, Varda, and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. Over 125 participants attended to hear insights on the soil data ecosystem in Kenya and Tanzania and contribute their questions and perspectives on the pilot results and the future of soil health data on the African continent.

Soil health is the cornerstone of sustainable agriculture, and its impact extends far beyond the confines of the farm. As we enter the festive season, it's a fitting time to reflect on the invaluable gifts of soil health. These include policies, advocates, media influence, scientific expertise, and farmer dedication—all crucial in driving progress toward a healthier, more resilient agricultural ecosystem. Let’s celebrate these contributions and recognize their role in safeguarding our future.