Healthier land and soils for a better food future: how policymakers hold the keys to change

Delegates at COP16 of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Riyadh have been working to tackle the critical challenge of preserving soil health while feeding the world, with 10 billion mouths to feed by 2050. This COP could accelerate action on land, drought resilience and the green transition across the world. Land restoration is a non-negotiable for a food systems transformation that makes our people, planet and economies healthier and more sustainable over the long-term.

It may not be obvious how the issues of drought and desertification are irrevocably linked to how we produce the world’s food. But the facts are clear: globally, agriculture is the primary cause of land degradation. Of the 80 countries substantially affected by land degradation, 36 are in Africa. The Global Assessment of Soil Degradation estimates that 65% of African agricultural land is degraded. Indeed, every second, an equivalent of four football fields of healthy land becomes degraded, adding up to a total of 100 million hectares each year. Unsustainable agricultural practices increase soil erosion and weaken other aspects of soil health, such as providing much needed nutrients to plants and animals.

The good news is that change is possible – and policymakers in those countries most affected by land degradation, from China to Somalia, hold the keys to that change: in the form of better agricultural policies and expenditures. Reorienting policies towards better outcomes can lead to benefits at multiple levels: shifting just 10% of the most distortive agricultural subsidies to green innovations could globally generate an additional US$2.4 trillion by 2040, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% and returning 105 million hectares of land to natural habitats.

Public policies can set incentives for farming and market practices that reverse current trends and directly incentivize farmers to take actions in a sustained way. Governments can step in to incentivize large-scale adoption of sustainable soil and land management practices through: 1) providing access to information and technical support to farmers to learn about and adopt climate-smart and soil health enhancing farming methods; 2) supplying finance to enable farmers to transition to different agricultural practices, rewarding farmers for protecting and restoring soil health; 3) establishing and enforcing regulatory standards on soil health; 4) monitoring soil characteristics by testing and mapping soils and making that information easily available to farmers and those supporting them and 5) engaging a range of affected stakeholders throughout the design and implementation of policies to improve soil health can ensure that proposals are feasible, take account of risk appetite and support equitable change to more sustainable practices that benefit everyone.

Policy solutions must also be backed by technical solutions that work for farmers. Thankfully a range of well-proven and emerging technical solutions exist: we just need the political will to adopt them. As we have seen over the past year, many farmers are protesting against such change, claiming proposed changes will leave them worse off. That’s why the World Bank works with governments to “repurpose” or realign existing policies and support to farmers towards better environmental and climatic outcomes, so that the farmer is getting the same dollar amount (or even more) and is rewarded not just for implementing more sustainable practices, but also for their contribution to a healthier and more sustainable planet for generations to come.

Farmers can undertake a range of practices to protect and retore soil health, with high potential to rebuild soil organic carbon, biodiversity and soil structure such as mulching, composting and reduced tillage, rotating crops and intercropping, including agroforestry and improving fertilizer use efficiency – to name just a few. Governments can fund training, advisory services and on-field measurements of soil health through public or third-party extensions services, encouraging farmers to adopt better practices. Extensive outreach and engagement activities – including peer-to-peer learning and neighbor demonstration effects – can nudge farmers towards changes in culture and habits, particularly if they are given information on why such changes could benefit them economically.

The World Bank is intensifying its support to countries so that each dollar spent promotes better, more sustainable practices that improve the health of soils and land. We are doing this in three ways: first, through our Global Agriculture Policy Dialogue on Transition to Sustainable Agriculture in partnership with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, we are building momentum on policy reforms for sustainable agriculture and food systems. The Policy Dialogue provides a forum to share experiences and learning, facilitate partnerships and build global ambition on reforms. Over 45 countries from the developing and developed countries have participated in 15 policy dialogues since 2021.

Second, by supporting country-level Agricultural Public Expenditure Reviews in over 40 countries, the World Bank, with our client countries, lays the foundations for broader change. Third, through investments in agricultural reforms such as policy actions – for example in Kenya, Malawi, Philippines, and Uzbekistan, that enable governments to repurpose agricultural policies and programs toward more economic efficient and climate outcomes; programs for results with $3.4 billion of World Bank financing that can then leverage $43 billions of government spending to strengthen public institutions to design and implement agricultural reforms; and finally through Multi-Donor Trust Fund FoodSystems 2030-financed Repurposing Projects in Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana, Indonesia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

A world of healthy soils, ecosystems and land is possible by 2030, but only if policymakers gather the political will to take action now. At this COP16, we call upon countries to raise their game on land restoration and improve soil health for a healthier planet for generations to come.

Source: blogs.worldbank.org