Although 95% of our food is directly or indirectly produced in soil, it is estimated that 40% of the Earth’s soil is degraded. Therefore, concerted efforts are needed to make soil healthier and when these efforts succeed they will enable us to feed and nourish a growing population. Healthy soil will also support governments in reaching their national targets to restore functioning ecosystems, as part of the Bonn Challenge and AFR100.

The United Nations has declared 2021-2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. So the opportunity to restore ecosystem health is now and this starts with building resilient soil systems.

The CIFOR-ICRAF strategy 2020-2030 highlights the role of Transformative Partnership Platforms (TPPs) to inform restoration investments. TPPs are alliances whose members collaborate to generate solutions through understanding problems, data collection, analysis and model development.

ICRAF’s Soils Theme provides leadership in applying landscape-scale soil and land health data analytics for impact, which, consequently, contributes to ICRAF’s strategic goals, the CGIAR Strategy and Results Framework, the CIFOR-ICRAF Restoration TPP, as well as global goals and commitments for ecosystem restoration and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

ICRAF has an advanced soil and plant spectral laboratory which supports regional spectral labs across the world. Spectroscopy enables landscape-scale assessments of land and soil health by providing a reliable and cost-efficient analysis of key soil health indicators, which is critical for global monitoring efforts. Our lab also hosts the largest physical archive of soil samples collected using a systematic sampling methodology, the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF), which provides exciting opportunities for collaboration with partners.

The Soils Theme contributes to a number of global programmes including the CGIAR Research Programme (CRP) on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE), the CGIAR Research Programme (CRP) on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA), the CGIAR Research Programme (CRP) on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the CGIAR Big Data Platform.

Soils Theme researchers aim for widespread collaboration across CIFOR-ICRAF, the CGIAR and beyond to achieve impact on the ground to improve overall soil and ecosystem health.

Expected Outcomes

  • National and regional partners in more than 20 countries will have improved capacities to assess and manage land and soil.
  • At least 20 countries and sub-national jurisdictions will practice effective land restoration, contributing to national commitments to restore ecosystem health.
  • Soil health management and climate-smart agriculture programmes in 20 or more countries are better targeted.
  • Land and soil health will be restored across key action engagement landscapes through increased incorporation of evidence in decision-making.