Agroecology is an integrated and holistic approach to sustainable agricultural and food systems, from production to consumption. It is pursued in three dimensions: science, agricultural practices, and a social movement. The 13 agroecological principles of the HLPE (2019) provide guidance for its implementation.

Soil health is fundamental for the productivity of cropping systems. It relies on three interlinked pillars: (1) availability of sufficient nutrients, (2) organic matter and (3) soil biota. Organic matter regulates pH and supports nutrient availability, water retention and soil biodiversity. Soil biotas decompose organic matter and improve soil structure by forming soil aggregates.

This guidebook aims to inform the design of agricultural carbon projects and to support project developers in navigating key project development issues, drawing on lessons learnt from a pilot project; the Western Kenya Soil Carbon Project (WKCP) as well as feasibility studies in India and Madagascar.

This synthesis report examines how gender is implicated in soil health interventions across diverse country contexts, and how Soil Matters as a global programme can respond with both gender-responsive and gender-transformative approaches. It draws on national gender analyses conducted between 2024–2025, offering cross-country insights, strategic recommendations, and key entry points to ensure that gender equality is not only acknowledged but actively pursued within the programme’s design, delivery, and scaling pathways.nger. Depending on the climate scenario, up to 80 million additional people could be at risk of hunger due to climate change (IPCC 2022).

Climate change is a major threat to agricultural production. Africa is particularly affected. Since 1961, total agricultural productivity growth in Africa has been reduced by 34 per cent due to climate change. These negative effects are likely to increase. The yields of staple cereals and legumes in the tropics are expected to decline by 5 per cent for every degree Celsius of global warming. Yield reductions and harvest failures are undermining food security and increasing hunger. Depending on the climate scenario, up to 80 million additional people could be at risk of hunger due to climate change (IPCC 2022).

This compilation consists of ten selected SLM practices that contribute to improved soil fertility and enhance soil health for the sustainability of food and agricultural systems.

This compilation consists of ten selected SLM practices that contribute to improved soil fertility and enhance soil health for the sustainability of food and agricultural systems.

This compilation consists of ten selected SLM practices that contribute to improved soil fertility and enhance soil health for the sustainability of food and agricultural systems.

Climate change poses a threat to global agriculture, with the African continent particularly vulnerable. Since 1961, climate change has reduced agricultural productivity in Africa by 34 per cent. Projections warn that up to 80 million additional people could be affected by hunger. Already today, 40 per cent of the world’s land area is considered degraded. At the same time, agricultural activities contribute considerably to the degradation of ecological and agricultural systems.

Agricultural and food (in short here agrifood) systems encompass the entire value chain of food and agricultural production, from seed selection and crop cultivation to storage, transport, processing, marketing, consumption, and waste management. These systems are shaped by social, economic, and policy factors.

This new paper from IFDC outlines the role of soil in mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change while also being influenced by these changes – a complex two-way relationship.

The authors first provide an understanding of this relationship before discussing the direct and indirect pathways through which soil health impacts carbon sequestration. Next, they highlight global evidence on soil health’s role in ecosystem services, including its ability to promote resilient, climate-adaptable systems.

Then, they discuss how these beneficial effects are under threat, as the increase in climate change-induced events limits the ability of soil to mitigate and manage climate change. Finally, they conclude by identifying areas where further action and research are needed. 

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.

In his Nobel Prize acceptance lecture, economist Theodore Schultz (1979) remarked, “Most of the world’s poor people earn their living from agriculture, so if we knew the economics of agriculture, we would know much of the economics of being poor”. If agriculture, then, largely determines the fate of the world’s poor, soil health has a fundamental role to play, given its impact on agriculture. In this paper, we lay out the deep relationships between soil health, agriculture, and poverty, and their implications for policy making. We focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 1 (SDG 1): No Poverty (United Nations, n.d.- a), which seeks to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. Extreme poverty is defined as surviving on less than $2.15 per person per day, at 2017 prices. We use the Intergovernmental Technical Panel’s definition of soil health: “. . . the ability of the soil to sustain the productivity, diversity, and environmental services of terrestrial ecosystem” (FAO, 2020).

Abstract

Being critical to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, strengthening understanding of the properties and processes of soil at national and regional scales is imperative. The necessity to realize SDGs by 2030 also inspires a greater sense of responsibility and care for soils…