Every year, millions of hectares of soil are destroyed by overexploitation and climate change effects worldwide. Agricultural production and farmer´s food security are therefore at a high risk of being strongly affected since the basis for good production is soil health. It is also important for climate change mitigation as properly managed soil can sequester huge amounts of carbon. Once destroyed, soils only regenerate very slowly. To ensure sustainable food production for a growing global population and farmers’ livelihoods, as well as to contribute to climate change mitigation, adaptation strategies that improve and rehabilitate agricultural soils are urgently needed.

Since 2014, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) therefore promotes and implements soil protection and rehabilitation approaches within the ProSoil (Soil protection and rehabilitation for food security) project. It is carried out in the partner countries Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Madagascar and Tunisia. In this context, HFFA Research was commissioned to review and refine the project’s climate monitoring system. The monitoring tracks qualitatively and quantitatively the contributions of soil protection and rehabilitation to climate change adaptation and GHG reductions. During the assignment, our team will further identify country specific climate risks and analyze adaptation scenarios by making use of cost-benefit analyses and multi-criteria assessments. We will also support capacity building of ProSoil partners and provide guidance for local stakeholder engagement.

The assignment is carried out in collaboration with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and commissioned by GIZ.

For further information please visit our project site.