This paper is the outcome of the “Partners for Change – SOILutions for a Food Secure, Resilient, and Sustainable Future” (short SOILutions) conference held in Berlin, Germany, from 20th to 22nd May 2025. It is based on the experience and lessons learned from over a decade of on-the-ground implementation through a major investment in soil protection and rehabilitation. Since 2015, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) together with the European Union (EU) and the Gates Foundation (GF) have provided over EUR 240 million through the programme “Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security” (short ProSoil) This programme has been successfully implemented in several African countries and India using a multipartnership approach. To date, nearly 1 million hectares of agricultural land have been protected and rehabilitated, achieving an average yield increase of 44 per cent and providing more food and better nutrition for 2.6 million people in seven countries.

This Policy Brief derives from the “Partners for Change – SOILutions for a Food Secure, Resilient, and Sustainable Future” (short SOILutions) conference in May 2025. The Partners for Change (P4C) Network brings together around 250 key stakeholders from government, civil society, and the private sector from over 30 countries. To advance the transformation of agricultural and food systems, the P4C Network provides an inclusive dialogue platform that fosters the c ocreation of sustainable transformation pathways across the three stakeholder groups.

A new paper from IFDC seeks to elaborate on this theory of change and build the case for improving soil health as a pathway to food security.

The paper begins with an overview of how soil health is critical to multiple SDGs, including SDG 2: Zero Hunger. It then discusses the challenge of global hunger; including its persistence and rising trend in recent years.

Next, the authors delve into approaches that are critical to improving soil health so that crop systems can thrive. Next, is a look at not just overall food availability but the challenge of hidden hunger which is closely linked to levels of plant nutrition and healthy soils, before concluding with the caveats of the assessment.

This Brief focuses on the interactions between water security, resilient freshwater systems and agricultural practices and land use. It identifies policy instruments and actions for governments to provide incentives and support to water users in agriculture to manage the quantity and quality of water sourced, used and discharged in a more sustainable way. This can boost water security and resilience of freshwater systems more broadly while strengthening the resilience of agricultural production and food security.

This guidance has been prepared by HFFA Research GmbH for the Global Programme “Soil Protection and Soil Rehabilitation for Food Security” (ProSoil), which is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and co-funded by the European Union. This co-funding focuses on agroecological transition towards resilient agrifood systems and is called ProSilience.

The methodological guidance provides an overview of the state of the art in economic and environmental analysis suitable for ProSoil and broader development contexts. It explains the proposed methodologies, their key indicators and results as well as data requirements and provides information on the application context. The guidance also includes advice and tips on what to consider before beginning a study. Practical ideas on how to involve relevant stakeholders in the various steps of an analysis help tailor studies to the needs of the target group and ensure that the results are useful to the stakeholders. Using this product, colleagues in ProSoil partner countries should be able to identify their main research questions and purpose of such and analyses as well as to formulate beforehand what type of results they would like to obtain. They should have a basic understanding of existing economic and ecological analysis methodologies and know which methodology might be suitable for their specific needs. They should feel able to put an analysis out to bit and select an appropriate research partner to eventually embark on a customized study.

The Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) is a multistakeholder partnership committed to scaling soil health, globally. CA4SH places a high degree of importance on the role of youth as innovators and experts toward scaling global soil health. Youth are engaged through the #Youth4Soil movement, which includes a working group, mentorship opportunities, and support for speaking and engagement. We also want to highlight youth approaches to advocating for global soil health.

In April 2024, Roël D. Houdanon, Founder & Chief Technical Advisor, Land and Health Association shared an op-ed highlighting the role of youth in defending soil health. He presented several avenues for youth to get involved in scaling soil health:

• Awareness Raising

• Innovation & Technology

• Policy Advocacy

• Community Engagement

• Education

• Science & Research

We reached out to youth partners to learn about their individual approaches to scaling soil health through these thematic action areas.

These are their responses.

At COP 28, a diverse and powerful group of nonState actors6 came together to launch the Food Systems Call to Action for Transforming Food Systems for People, Nature and Climate (Food Systems CtA). Representing farmers and frontline communities, businesses, philanthropies, cities, consumers and many others, this broad coalition delivered a strong message to assembled world leaders and the global community gathered for the 28th Conference of Parties (COP 28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that all actors must take urgent action to transform food systems to deliver positive outcomes for people, nature and climate.

Developed through a consultative process in 2023, the Food Systems CtA is a 2-page text, available in 7 languages, that highlights 10 priority actions and 4 principles intended to unlock the transformative potential of food systems. It centres on the need to support farmers and other frontline food systems actors, with a particular focus on women and youth, as well as vulnerable communities. Incorporating feedback from hundreds of individuals and entities, the final text was published on the High-Level Champions website along with an endorsement process. This process includes the submission of a Statement of Action for endorsers to emphasise additional priority points and detail the actions they are taking that align with the CtA, promoting transparency and accountability. The full list of current endorsers is available on the High-Level Champions website. The Food Systems CtA will remain open for endorsement by non-State actors until COP 30 in Belem.

Cette documentation a été réalisée grâce à la collaboration et la disponibilité des différents acteurs de ProSol Burkina Faso. Nous tenons à reconnaître les contributions inestimables de tous les agriculteurs qui mettent en œuvre des technologies et des approches de gestion durable des terres (GDT) pour la qualité des informations partagées vue la crise sécurité à laquelle est confrontée le pays, leur disponibilité pour l’accès aux exploitations, et leur contribution à l’utilisation durable des sols et à la réhabilitation des sols dégradés. Nos remerciements vont également à l’endroit des différents experts des structures partenaires impliquées dans le Programme global, des compilateurs de pratiques et des personnes qui ont contribué à la rédaction des documents.

Cette compilation et la collecte des données ont été dirigées par le partenaire du consortium WOCAT, l’Alliance de Bioversity International et le Centre International d’Agriculture Tropicale (CIAT). Ces données proviennent des technologies et des approches de réhabilitation des sols mises en œuvre par le Programme global « Protection et réhabilitation des sols pour la sécurité alimentaire » (ProSol). ProSol fait partie de l’initiative spéciale « Transformation des systèmes agroalimentaires » commandée par le Ministère Fédéral Allemand de la Coopération Économique et du Développement (BMZ). Il est cofinancé par l’Union Européenne et la Fondation Bill & Melinda Gates.

Nous remercions tous ceux qui ont contribué à l’élaboration de ce document, en particulier le personnel de la GIZ pour avoir initié ce projet, et à WOCAT et ses collaborateurs pour avoir facilité cette documentation. Nous exhortons les parties prenantes à le lire et à s’en approprier.

The Sustainable Soils Alliance (SSA) has been tracking the food industry’s progress in regards to regenerative agriculture and soil health initiatives via its Soil Health Industry Platform (SHIP). The 2023 SHIP report highlights our key Observations, soil-related Business Initiatives and based on our analysis we’ve recommended six Priority Actions to take forward in 2024.

Food system transformation is needed for "safeguarding food security and ending hunger, and the particular vulnerabilities of food production systems to adverse impact of climate change".

Read the full policy brief from 4p1000, CIRAD, and IRD

FOOD FORWARD NDCs is a simple, interactive, web-based tool that presents users with tangible, evidence-backed policy options and measures, and available literature for transitioning to nature-positive, healthy, and resilient food systems through NDCs. The available policy options can be tailored to a country’s specific food system priorities and different intervention areas of the food system, such as food environment, food governance, food production, supply chain, and consumption. The guidance does not intend to prescribe solutions, but instead, presents a menu of policy options as a starting point for decision-makers to further develop and implement on-theground measures for food systems transformation based on national and local contexts.

Download the full primer document from WWF

The COP28 Presidency today announced that 134 world leaders have signed up to its landmark agriculture, food and climate action declaration.

Download resources from the COP28 Presidency

Business as usual strategies for agriculture, land use and land use changes will impede the contribution of the food systems to the net zero CO2 emission ambition.

Food system transformation is needed for "safeguarding food security and ending hunger, and the particular vulnerabilities of food production systems to adverse impact of climate change3".

Read the policy brief from 4p1000, CIRAD, and IRD

The Global Food Systems Network Map is an online tool designed to visually represent the relationships among stakeholders involved in food systems-related efforts worldwide.

Innovations aren’t delivered by just a few people – everyone working within a food system can innovate. It is important that all stakeholders identify the actions that will deliver most impact in the shortest time – identifying new actions that can be applied, and scaling those that are already delivering success. Everyone must work to rapidly accelerate food systems transformation. Those investing money in food systems transformation (be they governments, banks, private investors, public donors or businesses) have a significant say in what innovations are implemented. Not only does the amount of funding for food systems innovation need to be increase, the direction of funds must become even more focused and context-specific.

There are already many innovations in our food systems and several are demonstrating their ability to deliver big impacts in short timeframes. Innovating doesn’t require developing completely new ways of doing things and decision-makers can learn from the approaches being applied in similar food systems round the world.

Ce guide permet à son utilisateur de mettre en œuvre une approche participative de S&E de l’adaptation. Il met l’accent sur la découverte du contexte des risques climatiques et l’évaluation des effets d’adaptation de la GDT en s’appuyant sur les connaissances et l’expérience d’un grand nombre de parties prenantes. Il est principalement axé sur les projets de développement rural, qui veulent optimiser leur efficacité en matière d’adaptation aux effets du changement climatique, élaborer des conseils et des recommandations pour l’utilisation de la GDT dans le contexte de l’adaptation aux changements climatiques et mettre en place de solides chaînes d’impact de l’adaptation. Cette évaluation plus qualitative peut facilement être combinée avec des données supplémentaires, par exemple sur les taux d’adoption des pratiques de GDT en vue de tirer des conclusions quantitatives, telles que le nombre de ménages appliquant des pratiques efficaces d’adaptation.

Le guide a été élaboré par le Programme mondial Protection et réhabilitation des sols pour la sécurité alimentaire (ProSol) mis en œuvre par la Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH sur mandat du Ministère fédéral allemand de la coopération économique et du développement (BMZ). ProSol est mentionné partout à titre d’exemple. Néanmoins, l’approche et les critères peuvent facilement être adaptés au contexte d’autres projets de développement agricole.