ACTION SHEET: Restoring soil health and productivity
Boosting smallholder resilience for recovery
Restoring soil health and productivity for safe, nutritious and resilient agrifood systems
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This action sheet is part of a series of tools developed under the seven key priority areas of FAO's COVID-19 Response and Recovery programme, the FAO umbrella programme designed to proactively address the socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic. Each action sheet includes a project proposal in support of countries most in need for which FAO is leveraging high-level political, financial, and technical expertise. All action sheets are gathered on the Food Coalition web hub, where members of the Coalition - a multi-stakeholder global alliance for a unified global action in response to COVID-19 - can easily access the action sheet project-focused information and data as well as the funding gaps on the ground, the type of assistance that would be required and decide how they wish to contribute: through voluntary contributions, the provision of expertise, innovative solutions and an exchange of knowledge and experience.
Healthy soils provide a variety of ecosystem services that are indispensable for life on Earth. COVID-19 is threatening food availability in many places of the world due to the disruption of food chains, lack of workforce, closed borders and national lockdowns. Consequently, more emphasis is being placed on local food production, which may lead to more intensive cultivation of vulnerable areas and to worsen soil degradation (that already affects 33 percent of soil resources globally). Soil degradation also has a major impact on ecosystems, worsens water availability and quality, leads to loss of above and below ground biodiversity, and results in increased greenhouse gas emissions. Lack of awareness of the importance of soil resources and scarce knowledge and reliable data on the status of soil health further aggravates the situation and holds stakeholders back from developing informed policies and promoting the adoption of sustainable soil management.
FAO and its Global Soil Partnership are in a privileged position to advance the adoption of sustainable soil management and soil governance from the local to the global level, through the following key actions:
- Development of capacities at the national level;
- Implementation of the available tools (revised World Soil Charter; Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management; and the International Code of Conduct for Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizer) See full list of publications here;
- Adoption of targeted sustainable soil management practices aimed at preventing major soil threat;
- Scaling up interventions to prevent soil degradation;
- Enhancement of soil productivity also through the implementation of the Soils4Nutrition programme.
Sustainable soil management practices are adopted by farmers through the Global Soil Doctors programme in order to enhance crop yields, soil fertility, water retention, soil biodiversity and reduce soil pollution, especially in those areas affected by COVID-19-derived pressures.
Among the expected results of this project:
- Resilience of agriculture and food systems;
- Rehabilitation of degraded soils;
- Enhancement of capacities of national institutions; and
- Establishment of global and national soil information systems
This action will be implemented by the GSP and its multi-stakeholder partners including governments, civil society, NGOs, academia and UN partners grouped in GSP's eight Regional Soil Partnerships.
The project will work in collaboration with national soil institutions, Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, farmers’ associations, soil science societies, the three UN Conventions (UNCCD, CBD, UNFCCC), UNEP and UN Panels including the ITPS, the SPI and the IPCC to guarantee solid science behind the interventions. It also includes other international initiatives such as 4per1000, GSBI, ICCL and remarkable FAO initiatives such as Hand-in-Hand, GLOSOLAN, One Health approach, Urban soils, and FAO drylands restoration initiatives.