Guidance Note - Advancing Africa's Soil Health Monitoring to Support the Nairobi Declaration and CAADP Kampala Agenda

Africa's Interrelated Challenges of Land Degradation, Climate Change, Food Security and Biodiversity Loss

Healthy soil is the foundation of sustainable, productive agricultural systems that are resilient to degradation and the effects of the climate crisis. Healthy soil is a unifier; it provides essential ecosystem services including carbon sequestration, drought resilience, erosion control, biodiversity and enhanced food and nutrition security. It can contribute to achieving all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

 Land degradation is a major threat to productivity across the African continent affecting more than 485 million people. Food produced in nutrient-depleted soil lacks available nutrients for the people who eat it, and for most of the 33 million smallholder farms in Africa, growing food in degraded soil is the norm, not the exception. These trends are only being exacerbated by the climate crisis.

To reverse Africa's interrelated challenges of land degradation, climate change, food security and biodiversity loss, African Union (AU) Member States will need to markedly increase the health of their soils and invest in soil restoration that is targeted and based on scientific evidence.