Why soil matters: The missing link in achieving sustainable development (A review and integrated framework)

This narrative review synthesizes published evidence and proposes a conceptual framework that positions soil health as a cross-cutting element of sustainable development and the energy, water, and food nexus. Healthy soils connect and enable the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), yet no standalone soil-health indicator exists among the 231 official SDG indicators, and no soil-centered monitoring framework spans the goals. Drawing on historical examples of soil mismanagement leading to societal collapse and Indigenous practices demonstrating long-term stewardship, we propose an integrated framework with three strategic pillars: building climate-adaptive soils, creating synergies between productivity and conservation through regenerative and Indigenous knowledge, and restoring marginal soils through bioremediation. This framework embeds soil health as a cross-cutting indicator that fosters synergies rather than tradeoffs between SDG implementation. Sustainable development is difficult to achieve when soils are degraded, because soil underpins planetary health. We argue that the energy, water, and food challenges at the centre of the energy-water-food nexus depend on soil stewardship, and that redirecting policy, finance, and innovation toward soil health is essential to achieving net-zero, food security, and equitable resource use.