Soil health: critical to addressing climate change and realising Africa’s agricultural potential
Ahead of the upcoming African Union Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit in Nairobi, read a new guidance note from AUDA-NEPAD, Coalition of Action for Soil Health and AICCRA that unpacks the soil health-climate-agriculture nexus and recommendations for scaling action on soil health in Africa.
Land degradation affects more than three quarters of Africa’s cultivated land, impacting food production and contributing to climate change. Climate change contributes further to this degradation by intensifying the hydrological cycle and increasing soil erosion.
Adopting sustainable soil management practices and preventing land degradation is key to realising the full potential of Africa’s soils to meet the growing demand for food, adequate and clean water supply, carbon sequestration, biodiversity protection and improved resilience to climate change.
To address these challenges, the African Union has called for an African Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit to be held in May 2024. The heightened political attention on restoring soil health as a basis for productive and resilient food systems presents an opportunity to urgently drive policy, innovation, practices, and investments that are required to rebuild Africa’s soils.
Ahead of the Summit, explore a guidance note developed by with African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), Coalition of Action for Soil Health (CA4SH) and AICCRA to learn about:
- Africa’s soil health challenge
- What is ‘healthy soil’?
- The soil health – climate – agriculture nexus
- Sustainable soil management practices
- Recommendations for scaling up soil health action
