CA4SH side-event at UNCCD COP15: Multi-stakeholder action for scaling soil health globally
Healthy soil provides the very foundation of our food systems, sequestering carbon and improving food and nutrition security. Yet in recent years, land degradation has become more prominent, challenging soil's ability to sustain life. Efforts to combat desertification, to move from scarcity to prosperity, will need to consider how to scale soil health globally.
The Coalition of Action for Soil Health (CA4SH) aims to ensure better mainstreaming of soil health and amplify its importance by including soil health in major declarations including UNCCD, UNFCCC, UNEA and CFS.
With over one third of the Earth’s soils degraded, and over 3.2 billion people negatively affected by degradation, continuing business as usual is no longer an option.
Now is the time for multi-stakeholder action to build an enabling environment at multiple levels for supporting, financing, scaling and monitoring healthy soil ecosystems.
As active advocates for collaboration across sectors and raising awareness of the role of soil health, CA4SH organised a session titled ‘Multi-stakeholder action for scaling soil health globally through evidence-based public and private investment’ at the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The session aimed to bring together diverse stakeholders from science, policy, development, conservation and the private sector to garner support to combat desertification by scaling investments in soil health.
The session was held on May 13th 2022 with over 100 participants joining both virtually and in person. The event sought to:
Raise awareness of the critical role of soil health in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
Demonstrate the impact of national policies for soil health; and
Highlight private sector investment plans that can provide equitable financial incentives to farmers, enabling soil health action on the ground.
The opening speech and keynote presentations successfully highlighted the need to promote high stakeholder action, noting that healthy soil is central to achieving the SDGs including Land Degradation Neutrality.
The connection between soil and human health was also emphasised by Dr Ratan Lal, a distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the CFAES Rattan Lal Centre for Carbon Management and Sequestration at Ohio State University, who stressed the importance of nutrition, classifying it as the most effective medicine for human health.
Another key point raised by Barbara Baarsma, CEO at Rabo Carbon Bank, is the role farmers have in finding solutions to carbon emissions. Supporting them in scaling out sustainable and resilient agricultural practices is fundamental in the arena of soil health.
Chief of External Relations, Policy and Advocacy at the UNCCD Secretariat, Miriam Medel Garcia gave an intervention on how CA4SH aligns with UNCCD, and once again emphasised the importance of collaboration with different partners, stating that many UNCCD member states would like to join the coalition. She noted that UNCCD will be more involved in CA4SH moving forward.
“To stop degradation and restore the already degraded soils and build soil health globally, we need to double or triple our efforts and there is a need for innovations and stakeholder action”
The first panel introduced many key organisation and global initiatives including the Land and Health Organisation in Benin, the 4p1000 initiative, the Global Soil Partnership and the Global Landscape Forum Restoration Steward programme. It also provided practical examples of implementation on the ground and highlighted the importance of farmers, youth, and building capacity at a local level.
The panel was skillfully summarised by Martina Fleckenstein, Global Policy Manager at WWF International, who highlighted the many key outcomes of the panel and stressed the need for aligning policy with science, including financing and making economic sense for farmers.
The second panel brought together actors from governments, the private sector and research who agreed that concrete action is needed now to move from theory to on-the-ground implementation of activities.
The panellists highlighted the need for multi-sector collaboration, partnerships between the private and public sector and linking farmers to science. In addition to this, the panel built on points raised regarding the importance of farmers and the strong need for financing.
Scaling global soil health is a joint effort. It requires diverse stakeholder action, meeting the objectives of multiple sectors and thinking integration. This side-event at UNCCD COP15 was a great start towards collective mobilisation towards securing the benefits of soil now and for future generations.
And this is just the beginning.
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Missed the event? No need! Watch a recording here:
