“IICA in Action,” IICA’s podcast on Spotify, now includes a segment devoted to the “Living Soils of the Americas” initiative

San Jose, 25 October 2022 (IICA) – As part of its continuing commitment to disseminating information about all aspects of the agricultural and rural agenda, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) has added a new segment to its series of “IICA in Action” podcasts.
 
In June of this year, IICA launched a topical, dynamic program on a new platform designed to appeal to new audiences. A number of podcast episodes have now been produced focusing, in particular, on the Living Soils of the Americas initiative promoted by IICA and the Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration (C-MASC), which is headed by renowned scientist Rattan Lal, considered the world's foremost authority on soil science.
 
“IICA in Action” is now available on the Institute's Spotify channel, with chapters presenting news and live issues from the world of agriculture and food security.
 
The new segment will be devoted to interviews with experts, officials and representatives of public and private sector institutions and organizations engaged in soil conservation, incorporating practices and technologies that help mitigate the harmful effects of climate change.
 
“Living Soils of the Americas” is an initiative that seeks to serve as a bridge between science, public policies, the private sector and work to rehabilitate degraded soils, whose degradation poses a threat to Latin America and the Caribbean’s position as a guarantor of global food security.
 
Through the program, utilizing the best management approaches, technical cooperation works with governments, international organizations, universities, the private sector and civil society organizations, to help halt land and agriculture degradation processes that deplete soil organic matter, a key natural resource for life on the planet.
 
The new podcast segment, targeted at members of the general public as well as representatives of the agri-food sector, will provide a platform for people working in different fields to prevent further soil degradation.
 
In the first “IICA in Action” episode devoted to “Living Soils of the Americas,” now available to listeners, the guest is none other than Rattan Lal, 2020 World Food Prize laureate and IICA’s Special Envoy to COP27.
 
Lal provides an overview of the current situation with regard to agricultural soils in the Americas, which in many cases have become degraded due to extreme weather events and inappropriate land use. He also proposes a series of actions that could stem the deterioration of a resource of key importance for production and the health of human beings, animals, crops, food and the environment.
 
The Institute will shortly be making available on the channel a series of conversations lasting around 10 minutes each with the Director General of IICA, Manuel Otero, and a large number of representatives of countries and the private sector participating in the initiative.
 
In this way, IICA aims to provide further opportunities for disseminating information and considering and proposing ways of advancing the global agri-food agenda and, in particular, sustainable agricultural practices.
 
The launch of this program also coincides with the preparations for the COP27, due to take place in Egypt in November, where experts from around the world will discuss ways of tackling the challenges posed by climate change.

More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int