This brief presents: 

1. The evidence base for soil health as a key indicator of rangeland restoration, resulting from improved and inclusive land governance which is foundational to rangelands restoration. 

2. Priority actions for key stakeholders.

3. Contributions to the implementation of Decision 29/COP.16 on rangelands and pastoralists, Decision 19/COP.16 on agricultural lands, and the Rangelands Flagship Initiative to be launched at COP17. 

4. Key Messages for COP17:  

This knowledge product demonstrates how soil health serves as a unifying foundation across the three Rio Conventions—the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—while contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It reviews the key policy mechanisms under each Convention and identifies opportunities to strengthen the integration of soil health into national implementation, monitoring, and reporting processes.

This policy brief outlines the case for policymakers to scale SISs and integrate monitoring of SOC in national reporting towards the goals of the Rio Conventions. It explores the context and need for advancing SISs to support voluntary targets laid out in national LDN, NBSAPs, and NCDs.