Global land degradation worsens, but targeted policies show promise in land improvement, study reveals. A comprehensive update of the Global Assessment of Land Degradation and Improvement (GLADA) study spanning four decades reveals that 28.5% of the Earth’s land area is degrading, driven by megafires, deforestation, and unsustainable farming. However, targeted sustainability policies have improved biological productivity on 26% of global land, offering hope for regions adopting proactive measures.

The CURIOSOIL project invites Europe-based artists of all disciplines and levels to submit concept proposals that creatively highlight the importance of soil. The goal is to ignite curiosity, inspire reflection, and reconnect people with this vital yet often overlooked element of life.

The 4th Modelling Working Group Workshop and the Mid-term Extraordinary Partnership Meeting of the WATDEV marked a crucial moment in reaffirming the consortium’s commitment to promoting climate-smart soil, water, and crop management solutions in East Africa during the project's final implementation phase.

On 17-20 March, the ISRIC mapping team conducted a four-day training on DSM for the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia in Wageningen, the Netherlands. Tailored specifically to support ICGC’s soil mapping programme, the comprehensive training covered theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and hands-on experience.

Based on a GIS-overlay with the EU Corine Land Cover dataset (for 2018), some 28,000 profiles under forest were identified. These training data were used to map soil properties at a resolution of 100 m. This was done using a digital soil mapping approach featuring model tuning, environmental covariate selection and regression random forest.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) of Kenya, the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO), ISRIC – World Soil Information, and CABI, hosted a two-day workshop titled "Kenya Soil Information System (KenSIS) Roadmap Development Workshop" at the KALRO Headquarters in Loresho, Nairobi, on 5-6 March 2025.

The Soil Information System framework, developed by CABI and ISRIC, with contributions from the soil data community, has been included in the Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) e-catalogue for development partners. TAAT is an African Development Bank initiative aimed at enhancing agricultural productivity in Africa.

The hackathon "Digging deep: Innovating soil education through augmented and mixed reality (AR-MR) in a mobile app" invites educators, soil specialists, developers, designers, and technologists to revolutionise the way people learn about soils. The hackathon is organised by ISRIC, a partner in the CURIOSOIL project.

In 2022, we began collaborating with our African partners to establish a Soil Information Community of Practice (CoP). In an article on Frankwatching, we discuss the process of building the CoP, highlighting lessons learned, challenges overcome, and the broader role of CoPs as engines of sustainable change and innovation.

Consistent soil data are required to underpin a wide range of environmental and societal issues. Metadata from the ISRIC – World Soil Information GeoNetwork catalogue are now discoverable and accessible from DataONE. DataONE is a community driven programme providing access to data across multiple member repositories, supporting enhanced search and discovery of Earth and environmental data.