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ORCaSa side event: Soil Carbon for African agriculture

30 July 2024, Kigali (Rwanda)

⏰ 11:30AM to 1PM (GMT+2)

This year, the Science and Partnerships for Agriculture Conference (SPAC) is including the ORCaSa side event in its programme: ‘Optimising soil carbon for agricultural productivity and ecological services in Africa’.

The hybrid discussion (onsite and virtual) will be animated by Suzanne Reynders, ORCaSa coordinator, and Wole Fatunbi, the project’s regional node for Africa and AG Director of Research and Innovation at the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).

The aim is to bring together key stakeholders in African agriculture to discuss the state of knowledge and action on increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) and the implications of the 2024 Nairobi Declaration on Fertilisers and Soil Health, which sets the goal of reversing land degradation and restoring soil health on at least 30% of degraded soils by 2034.

Indeed, soils in the upper horizon of the planet are thought to contain two to three times more carbon than the atmosphere. The SOC stock is vital to agriculture as a source and sink of plant nutrients and is considered an essential nutrient for defining soil fertility for agricultural purposes, as well as an indicator of soil functionality for ecological services. This is why it is important to maintain and improve current stocks of SOC to meet global challenges such as climate change, soil degradation, food security and agricultural productivity worldwide.

At the forefront of the Soil Carbon International Research Consortium (IRC) that has emerged in November 2023 from the ORCaSa project, the objective is to provide better access to research, methods and practices related to soil carbon. The Soil Carbon IRC also aims at proposing a harmonised Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) framework applicable in different contexts and situations.

About Science and Partnership for Agriculture Conference

Science and Partnership for Agriculture Conference (SPAC) is crafted to encapsulate broad-based partnerships at different levels to address key issues in Africa’s agricultural research and innovation space. The conference hosts four continental initiatives supported by the European Union funding portfolios, IFAD, CRS, GCA, GRA, etc. The four key conferences will run simultaneously but independently.

The 2022 Biennial Africa CSA stakeholders conference; The LEAP4FNSSA closing General Assembly and the Writeshop to develop the EU/AU International Research Consortium on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture; the 2022 scientific meeting of the Pan-African Network for Economic Analysis of Policies (PANAP) and the Knowledge Management for Agriculture Conference (KM4AGD).

The joint conference will provide the opportunity to leverage the participation of high-level individuals in Africa and European agriculture to jointly address pertinent emerging issues affecting the continent. The four conferences and their constituents will provide important technical and policy information from different engagements.