We treat soil like dirt. Yet what lies beneath our feet determines the health of our food, our planet and ultimately our future. Soil is often invisible to us. We walk on it, build on it, grow our food from it and assume it will keep giving. But its condition shapes everything from climate stability to the resilience of communities enduring the effects of environmental change.
Today, the warning signs are unmistakable. Fertilizer runoff feeds vast dead zones in our ocean. Sargassum, a type of large, brown, free-floating seaweed that forms vast mats on the ocean surface, is washing up on Caribbean shores, suffocating marine ecosystems and overwhelming coastal communities.
Across the world, land degradation and desertification are accelerating. Farmers are reaching the limits of what degraded soils can produce. What happens on land now shows up at sea with increasing clarity.
At the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly ( UNEA 7 ), running Dec. 8 to 12 at the UN Environment Program headquarters in Nairobi, we can confront this crisis at its source. The assembly is the world’s highest-level decision-making body for matters on the environment, with a universal membership of all 193 member states.
Environmental challenges cannot be separated. Pollution travels downstream, through rivers and wetlands, into the coastal ecosystems that sustain people, wildlife and entire local economies. The costs fall heaviest on those who rely most on the land for their livelihoods.
Soil is the largest land-based carbon store on the planet, holding far more than the atmosphere. Soil regulates water, supports biodiversity and is central to nearly all food production. Yet, we are losing it at extraordinary speeds. Up to 40 percent of the world’s land is already degraded, and each year around 24 billion tons of fertile soil disappear.
Degraded soils become dependent on greater quantities of fertilizer. These nutrients leach into waterways, triggering algal blooms and oxygen depletion, eventually creating coastal dead zones.
The explosion of sargassum across the Atlantic is another sign of imbalance. Warmed waters and nutrient overload have allowed this vast floating algae belt to grow to unprecedented levels, releasing toxic gases and disrupting tourism. Behind the images of rotting seaweed is a story that begins with the soils upstream.
Industrial agriculture, especially intensive livestock systems, has pushed soils and ecosystems to a breaking point. Large volumes of chemical fertilizers and feed crops sustain these systems, creating a cycle where land is exhausted, water is polluted and rural communities become increasingly vulnerable.
Soils stripped of organic matter lose the ability to store water or carbon. Monoculture landscapes lose resilience to climate shocks. Animals raised in intensive confinement require feed that puts further pressure on cropland: it’s a system that takes far more than it gives back.
Yet, alternatives exist. Around the world, farmers, researchers, Indigenous communities and innovators are showing that food can be produced in ways that repair soil, restore biodiversity and strengthen resilience. Their work offers a blueprint for a future where the health of the land and the well-being of people and animals move together.
Restoring ecosystems through farming
Nature-friendly farming practices such as regenerative and organic farming are practical solutions for rebuilding soil health. Cover cropping, agroforestry and diversified crop rotations increase organic matter and restore natural processes that hold landscapes together. Better management of manure and nutrients can greatly reduce pollution while strengthening the soil’s ability to store carbon and retain water.
Healthy soils filter water, prevent nutrient overloading in rivers and coastlines, support pollinators and help communities withstand droughts and floods. They also reduce the environmental footprint of food production.Restoring soils is not only an environmental necessity, but an economic and social imperative. For governments, it means aligning incentives with practices that regenerate the land. For businesses, it means understanding environmental and reputational risks embedded in supply chains. For consumers, it means supporting food systems that protect the earth on which we all depend.
Why the Environment Assembly matters
The UNEA arrives as climate instability, biodiversity loss, pollution, land degradation and marine ecosystem collapse are converging. None of these crises can be solved in isolation. The conference therefore offers a critical platform to recognize food-systems transformation as a core part of global environmental action. Without changing how we produce and consume food, we cannot meet our goals on land restoration, climate mitigation, biodiversity protection or ocean health.
Governments should use this Assembly to draw serious attention to restoring soil health, reducing nutrient pollution and investing in nature-friendly farming. Businesses should focus on supply chains that protect rather than deplete. The international community should support solutions that bring benefits across climate, nature, pollution and human well-being.
We stand at a crossroads. Continuing the path of soil degradation will deepen unfolding crises across continents and coastlines. But if we choose to value what lies beneath us, the land and oceans can recover. Our future depends on the decisions we make now. The meeting in Nairobi is the moment to restore our relationship with nature.
Susan Gardner is director of the Ecosystems Division of the United Nations Environment Program.
Philip Lymbery is global CEO of Compassion in World Farming International; president of Eurogroup for Animals; and a member of the UN Food Systems Advisory Board.
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