The fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) took place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 9 to 20 May 2022.

The COP15 theme, ‘Land. Life. Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity', was a call to action to ensure land, the lifeline on this planet, continues to benefit present and future generations. 

COP15 brought together leaders from governments, the private sector, civil society and other key stakeholders from around the world to drive progress in the future sustainable management of one of our most precious commodities: land.

Dr. Leigh Ann Winowiecki, Soil Systems Scientist for the Centre for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry Centre (CIFOR-ICRAF), and AICCRA Soil Scientist, participated in the conference, leading and curating a series of side events, and contributing substantially to the important dialogue around advocating for soil health action.

Healthy soil for a healthy planet

One of the sessions she spoke at showcased the prominent role of soil health in meeting the goals of the three 'Rio Conventions', in particular Land Degradation Neutrality targets.

Fellow speakers shared their experiences of how they are working to reverse land degradation and restore soil health.

Leigh is currently co-leading the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH), a multi-stakeholder platform that includes AICCRA and was launched at the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021. CA4SH aims to improve soil health globally by addressing critical implementation, monitoring, policy, and public and private investment barriers that constrain farmers and landowners from adopting and scaling healthy soil practices such as regenerative and agroecological approaches.

By sharing the experiences and advances of CA4SH, multiple stakeholders demonstrated their support and communicated the role of cross-sectoral approaches to targeting global soil health. Her presentation, and the presentation she gave on the first-ever UNCCD Food Day, were calls to action for countries, the private sector and other stakeholders to make soil the foundation of climate efforts.

Multi-stakeholder action for scaling soil health globally

Soil health plays a critical role in meeting the UN Global Goals, including goals on limiting land degradation. This was highlighted at another session that also demonstrated the impact of national policies on soil health and underscored multi-stakeholder approaches to tackling land degradation and protecting soil.

At the session, two panels were organized; the first panel consisted of youth, NGOs, farmer organizations and international organizations, while the second panel represented research as well as public and private sector finance.

The session highlighted private sector investments that—if elevated—can increase equitable financial incentives that reach farmers, enabling scaling of healthy soil practices at the community level. The diverse set of panelists, coming from science, the private sector, as well as international organizations, echoed the sentiment that farmers are at the frontlines of soil protection. They need and deserve support from agencies to protect the land and their livelihoods through soil health, something CA4SH hopes to mobilize and mainstream amongst climate actors across the globe.

According to the Global Land Outlook, the UNCCD's report on land restoration for recovery and resilience:

“land degradation affects all types of land, from cities and rangelands to farmland and wilderness. While often quite evident on the surface, it is the hidden and insidious deterioration in the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil, water, and biodiversity that is undermining human health and economic prosperity. Land becomes degraded in many ways. Some are natural or indirect, but most result from direct human activities.”

Examples of such human activities are cutting down forests or converting grasslands to cultivate food or expand urban areas. Around the world, between 20-40% of the global land area is degraded and humans are the catalysts.

What's the solution?

The Global Land Outlook explains that land restoration has multiple benefits that reverse past land and ecosystem degradation while creating opportunities that improve livelihoods and prepare us for future challenges. An example from the report points to regenerative land use practices; they boost soil health or recharge groundwater and also enhance our ability to cope with drought, floods, wildfires, and sand and dust storms.

Moreover, land restoration is a proven and cost-effective solution to help reverse climate change and biodiversity loss. Soil plays a central role in climate change adaptation and mitigation; it has the potential to store twice as much carbon as terrestrial and atmospheric pools.

“So this is something that we can really tap into, and we [have used] this opportunity at COP15 to raise awareness about the need for soil health,” Leigh highlighted in her interview with Landscape News.

Within AICCRA, we are exploring how soil health can be incorporated into national policies, such as the NDCs. Leigh is set to publish AICCRA policy briefs on how countries integrate soil carbon in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which will be a key policy instrument under the UNFCCC.

Collective action is needed to meet cross-sectoral objectives while prioritizing all that soil can offer everyone. In light of the new UNFCC Food Day, CA4SH are advocating for a Soil Day, all its own. They are also engaging countries and stakeholders to sign the Soil Health Declaration which has been drafted and is rolling forward to create a collective push to protect soil.

The UNCCD COP15 adopted 38 decisions to improve drought resilience, reduce land degradation and invest in land restoration efforts. The goal of restoring one billion hectares of degraded land by 2030 and boosting drought resilience by improving partnership-based investment programmes only serve to highlight just how much of a group effort this really is.

“We all have a responsibility to restore soil health,” says Leigh. “Let’s work collectively to scale soil health globally.”

Authors

Leigh Ann Winowiecki, Soil Systems Scientist at World Agroforestry and AICCRA Soil Scientist

Lili Szilagyi, Communications Specialist, AICCRA Innovation

Sabrina Chesterman, Independent Development Consultant, AICCRA Innovation