Ground zero: why soil health is integral to beating climate change

Agriculture faces a generational challenge: Roughly 95% of all food supply relies on healthy soils, yet nearly a third of global agricultural land is degraded. As the pressure to harvest more land intensifies, there is an essential need to reconcile agriculture with nature and use it as a natural means to remove CO2. At the centre of this reconciliation is soil health and customization. Improving soil health is key to enhancing plant-driven carbon sequestration, increasing crop yields, and restoring the negative impact traditional intensive agriculture has had on the environment.

Soil is one of most essential but also under-appreciated finite resources on earth. Until recently, advocates for soil’s benefits and importance have been limited to the scientific community. However, recent disruptions to global food supplies have made more policy-makers recognize the importance of soil in ensuring food security. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, speaking at the Annual Meeting 2024 in Davos, described soil as being “at the root of many pressing national security challenges”, noting that if you “get the soil right, then you have your agricultural foundation for the future”. At COP28, soil health was highlighted as being key to developing stronger and more resilient agriculture and food systems.

As a result of this increased political awareness and support, a growing number of intra- and international initiatives have been created to protect and enhance soil health. At the 2024 African Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit, delegates from across the continent committed to “building soil health and regenerating degraded soils” to enable a “sustainable food systems transformation”. The summit culminated with the signature of the Nairobi declaration – which committed signatories to tripling domestic production and distribution of certified quality fertilizers by 2034, as well as developing systems to provide targeted agronomic recommendations.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has identified poor soil health as a major threat to global food security, a barrier to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and a contributor to climate change. Degraded soils exacerbate the gap between crops’ current and potential yields, indirectly encourage deforestation by pushing farmers to expand farmland, and reduce the earth’s natural capacity to sequester carbon. By contrast, healthy soils support a diverse range of organisms, enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services above and below ground, and increase agricultural productivity for farmers. In this sense, soils are an important asset for the economic, social and environmental sustainability of farmers and the planet.

The impact of degraded soils is particularly visible in Africa, where poor nutrient management and a long history of soils’ mining has led to reduced soil fertility and health. At the same time, Africa also has incredible agricultural potential. A recent study by the African Plant Nutrition Institute predicted that a tailored approach to plant nutrition solutions use that focused on rejuvenating soils would not only close the yield gap, but also increase soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil fertility for the benefit of future generations – a triple win for smallholder farmers.

Local and international stakeholders – ranging from farmers to multinational corporations – are already collaborating to harness this potential through a series of partnerships and strategies. These efforts were outlined in the recently released World Economic Forum community paper on Scaling Technology Adoption for Soil Health: A Focus on Africa. Launched at the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali in May 2024 by the Food Innovators Network, the paper identified a growing number of possibilities for collaboration and the adoption of existing solutions and technologies to improve soil health at scale and strengthen stakeholders’ capabilities. The paper also noted the sector’s many investment-worthy innovation opportunities.

Healthy, fertile soils cannot be quickly or easily replaced. It takes 1,000 years to create just a half a centimetre of healthy soil, with some studies estimating we are currently losing soil 50-100 times faster than it can recover. To employ an image, the FAO highlights that the equivalent of one soccer pitch of soil is eroded every five seconds. Yet science has shown that the targeted application of key nutrients can be a crucial driver in improving soil health and reverse degradation.

Customization is a crucial method to achieve this. Rather than a “one size fits all approach” of applying ever greater volumes, customization uses data from soil mapping to provide each nutrient at the appropriate time, to ensure that the crop has access to the right nutrient at each stage of growth. This minimizes damaging environmental run-off and ensures higher outputs and improved soil health. Advances in soil science and precision agriculture have accelerated this journey, with technologies such as remote sensing, geographic information systems, drones and AI allowing farmers to better monitor soil conditions and tailor their interventions.

Farmers should not bear the entire responsibility for improving soil health. Programmes that support agriculture must also prioritize soil health initiatives. The 100 Million Farmers Initiative is tackling the challenge of financing the transition to sustainable agriculture, enhancing benefits for soil, water and biodiversity. Though the monetization of ecosystem services is still in its early stages, increased investment and consensus can incentivize farming communities, providing essential support on our journey towards regenerative soils, agriculture and food systems.

The USAID Space for Place initiative highlights this need by offering localized fertilizer recommendations to boost productivity and return on investment for farmers across sub-Saharan Africa. Individual farmers encounter numerous challenges, particularly economic risks, making it crucial to foster effective collective action and public-private partnerships to finance and assist their transition to sustainable food production. This type of collaboration among governments, the private sector and civil society will lay the foundation for a sustainable food future.

Addressing climate change is a collective global endeavour, and soil health is a vital asset in this battle. With agriculture utilizing nearly 50% of the world's habitable land, the sector’s influence is significant. To leverage the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as a catalyst for advancing land and soil restoration, it is crucial for all stakeholders in the agricultural value chain to collaborate on investing in the necessary technologies and partnerships to restore, enhance and protect soil health.

We urge all the stakeholders in the agricultural sector to reconcile their practices with nature, lead the charge against climate change and ensure a sustainable food supply for the future. In the immediate term, we will actively support UNCCD COP16, bringing together stakeholders to reframe the agenda around land restoration, with a strong focus on the regenerative agriculture and customized plant nutrition and soil health movement.