Soil, Systems & Solidarity: What SAN Members Put in Motion This Week

Soil leads the story

World Soil Day (Dec 5) energized the Network. CABI unpacked soil’s role as a living engine for food quality and ecosystem health, tying it to One Health and farmer decision-making. They also spotlighted National Soil Information Systems now breaking data silos in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya and Zambia—making soil data findable and usable across ministries and research actors.

CottonConnect celebrated farmer adoption of regenerative soil practices and the resilience benefits those bring—better crops, stronger livelihoods, and more climate-ready communities.

Fundación Global Nature echoed the message publicly: living, diverse, well-cared-for soils are the foundation for restoration that creates jobs and revitalizes territories.

Data, One Health & early warnings

CABI drove a full week of practical agronomy and risk alerts: crop-loss evidence showing up to 40% losses pre-harvest, guidance on papaya mealybug IPM, and timely crop tips for citrus and beans—plus a new parasitoid species with potential to protect wild box trees. Their One Health research flagged integrated surveillance as a top priority, and they teed up a roundtable to translate research into action. On the extension front, CABI’s feed also covered biostimulants, citrus threats, and bean pest signs—small, concrete signals that help farmers act early.

Traceability, textiles & compliance

From farm group to garment: CottonConnect’s TraceBale gives brands end-to-end visibility and supports compliance (e.g., DPP), while their participation in the OEKO-TEX® Summit & InnoQualTex SourceXhibition 2025 underscores how supply-chain tools and standards are converging fast.

Climate-smart adoption & youth opportunity

CORAF kept #MITA’s momentum, stressing a core priority for West and Central Africa: accelerate adoption of climate-smart technologies, lift productivity, and create pathways for young people—alongside celebrating the Abdoulaye Touré Innovation Prize, where Mango Protect stood out.

Restoration, recognition & bioeconomy

In Colombia, Fundación Natura advanced OMEC awareness, showcased bioeconomy initiatives (handicrafts and green businesses), and received recognition from the Government of Antioquia for territorial conservation processes—clear signals of policy-practice alignment.

Fundatia Adept launched “Angofa, Nature and Community” and hosted the first international DIGI-Rangeland workshop in Brașov, convening stakeholders from 11 countries to explore digital tools for pasture and hay management—a practical bridge from data to decisions at landscape scale.

Rights, resilience & readiness

Rainforest Alliance paired standards innovation with real-time context: reinforcing its Regenerative Agriculture Standard’s soil focus, engaging on corporate advisory services, and responding to catastrophic flooding across Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, while advancing human-rights dialogue at the UN Forum on Business & Human Rights.

Preferred by Nature pushed the debate on overlooked sustainability hotspots like rice—and kept skills moving with restoration training and carbon/restoration standards learning journeys.

RAAA Perú and REEDS Pakistan anchored the week in citizen action: pesticide-free awareness, practical biofertilizer courses, agrobiodiversity traditions, and Soil Day community activities.

Diplomacy for resilience

Abiodes documented the French Ambassador’s visit to Nampula to monitor AFD-funded agro-resilience—evidence of high-level attention tracking delivery on the ground.

Why this matters for SAN’s Global Impact Network

Across the week, members acted as one ecosystem: soil-centered agronomy, interoperable data systems, farmer-first extension, traceable textiles, policy-linked restoration, and emergency-aware human-rights work. It’s exactly how our Network turns complexity into credible, scalable outcomes—radical collaboration that’s practical and measurable.

Together, we’re aligning climate, nature, and livelihoods in ways corporates, donors, and communities can trust—“sustainability, simplified” with investor-grade credibility and local precision.