Advancing National Food Systems Pathways through Convergence for Soil Health and Land Restoration

UNCCD COP17 Side Event

Date: 27 August 2026 | 13:00–14:30

Location: COP 17, Zone D, MET 24, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Organizers: UN Food Systems Coordination Hub and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the Coalition of Action for Soil Health (CA4SH).

About the event

Healthy soils underpin food production, water management, climate resilience, biodiversity and rural livelihoods. Yet soil health is often addressed across separate policy agendas, with related priorities dispersed across agriculture, climate, biodiversity, water and land restoration.

At the same time, many countries already address soil-related priorities through their national food systems pathways, including sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture, agroecology, sustainable land and water management, landscape restoration and climate adaptation. Making these connections more explicit can help strengthen coherence across national food systems pathways, Land Degradation Neutrality targets, NDCs, NAPs and related national frameworks.

This side event will bring together countries and partners to explore how complementary mandates and capacities can reinforce one another. By connecting national policy processes, restoration frameworks, financing mechanisms, implementation capacity and measurable soil-health outcomes, the discussion will examine practical opportunities to advance a shared soil-health agenda that supports UNCCD implementation and wider food systems, climate, biodiversity and sustainable development priorities.