1st African “4 per 1000” Symposium: Building synergies across Africa to advance on soils for food security and climate – Johannesburg
The event was jointly organized by NEPAD, Regeneration International and the “4 per 1000” Initiative.
104 participants from 16 African countries together with Partners from the EU, North- and South America, came together in Johannesburg for the 4 per 1000 Africa Symposium on Soils for Food Security and the Climate. Current insights into existing initiatives in Africa led by NEPAD, governments and civil society organisations were presented and discussed. Conversations and working groups were conducted around the four interconnected pillars of the “4 per 1000” Initiative: soil health, food security, adaptation to climate change and contribution to global climate change mitigation.
The outcome report is under preparation and will be presented at the “4 per 1000” Initiative Day on 13 December in Katowice, Poland. Among the main conclusions were:
- There is a need to close the gap between research and the civil society. We need to stop the dichotomy between “us” and “them” and work closer together.
- African agriculture can contribute to solving many of the world’s problems. Promising ways and effective tools to restore and conserve the land while fighting hunger and poverty are partly known, we need to focus on spreading the knowledge and identifying concrete investment options to accelerate implementation and up-scaling.
- Ecosystem degradation and climate change are aggravating rapidly. We have no time to lose and need to focus on the synergies between our different initiatives in each region.
Following the Symposium, Regeneration International launched a letter to highlight the huge potential of soil restoration and conservation for tackling migration issues the world is currently facing. We invite all members to read it and support it with your signature as well as share it among your networks:
