Countless CA4SH partners attended the UNFCCC COP29 this month, so we reached out to ask how it went!

Despite this being an incredibly busy time of year, we received several responses from partners who highlighted the highs, the lows, and what still needs to be done to embed soil health more deeply in agenda set forth at the Rio Conventions.

Here are their reflections, in their own words.

11-22 NOVEMBER 2024: The UN Climate Convention COP29 was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, themed In Solidarity for a Green World. The Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH) is a motivated, multi-stakeholder coalition working to strengthen, facilitate and accelerate the adoption and scaling of soil health restoration practices. Soil health drives productivity and economic growth, rural livelihoods, biodiversity protection, and mitigation and adaptation to the climate crisis.

At COP29, CA4SH convened members, partners, and other stakeholders to underscore the critical importance of including soil in the climate proceedings. CA4SH held and participated in several sessions that teased apart the intricacies of scaling global soil health on the ground through finance, policy, support for farmers and land managers, and more. Keeping soil health on the climate agenda is an overarching objective of CA4SH, and at COP29, the power of multistakeholder voices was heard. Read on for an overview of our engagement!

From 7-8 May 2024, African leaders and stakeholders came together to reverse soil degradation and map a joint way forward for the continent by putting farmers first.

The Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit (AFSHS) was raised to address changes in the agricultural sector in Africa since the 2006 Abuja Declaration on Fertilizer for the Africa Green Revolution. Since the Abuja Declaration, sustainable soil management has become an increasingly recognized priority for reversing land degradation and contributing to the climate adaptation strategies of African countries.

As active proponents of soil health to address all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, CA4SH participated in and hosted several sessions at the AFSHS to bridge science and policy spaces with examples of concerted action on the ground.