From Degradation to Regeneration: Land Management Practices that Build Soil Organic Carbon
Food system governance often suffers from fragmented decision-making across ministries and sectors. Digital technologies – such as GIS, remote sensing, integrated dashboards, and scenario modelling – can help governments align land-use planning, food security strategies, and climate policies.
Held on the 9th of July 2026, the African Climate Action Partnership convened its second session to the webinar series, From Soil Health to Climate Action: Unlocking the Power of Soil Organic Carbon, through the Soil Organic Carbon Community of Practice (SOC-COP). The second session focused on “From Degradation to Regeneration: Land Management Practices that Build Soil Organic Carbon”.
The webinar explored how data-driven tools can support coherent policy decisions across food systems. The key focus was on the governance challenges, adoption barriers, and decision-support tools needed to align land management, food security, and climate objectives. It explored farmers’ difficulties in adopting new practices, highlighted the key barriers to digital land governance, and reviewed the current early warning systems for drought and food insecurity. Together, these discussions provided insights into the obstacles and opportunities for strengthening resilience in farming communities and improving national food systems.
“We have been collecting a lot of data but we have to be honest the cost of obtaining this is very expensive. We have to find win-win initiatives on how data collectors can benefit by sharing to address this data inaccessibility issue.” – Dr. Harifidy Rakoto Ratsimba
The session was moderated by Dr. Christian Tegha, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Sustainable Environment, Ecotourism, and Agricultural Development Organisation (SEEADO), and the featured speakers including:
- Dr. Christian Thine, Technical Lead for the African Union Soil Observatory (AUSO) project, implemented under the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), who presented on Breaking policy silos: How data can support more coordinated decision-making across ministries and sectors.
- Dr. Harifidy Rakoto Ratsimba, Head Researcher at LLandDev (Land, Landscape, and Development Research Lab) at the University of Antananarivo, who presented on Digital tools for sustainable land management: The role of GIS, remote sensing, and decision-support systems in strengthening SOC outcomes.
Access the presentations below:
Watch the recording to discover how data-driven tools can support coherent policy decisions across food systems: