Soils are a vital substrate for agricultural production, play a central role in regulating the global carbon budget, and are a valuable source of biodiversity. Yet estimates of the global area affected by soil and land degradation are continuing to increase. For decades, soil scientists have called for a legally binding, international policy framework to guide the sustainable use of soils, but a piecemeal legislative approach has prevailed instead.

With over 200 international environmental agreements currently in force, there is political reluctance for another one. Here, I suggest that one way of ending this impasse would be for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to focus more explicitly on soil ecosystems and degradation processes, both within and beyond the drylands. This could promote synergy among the international conventions on desertification, biodiversity, and climate change, and could yield multiple global benefits for social-environmental systems.