The latest episode of the Thrive podcast takes a close look at the ground beneath our feet. Soil, on which terrestrial life depends, is often ignored precisely because it is everywhere and yet invisible. Healthy soils contribute so much to human well-being, from nutritious food to clean water, and yet the soils of more than a fifth of all cropland, pasture, forest and woodland are degraded to some extent....

The latest episode of the Thrive podcast takes a close look at the ground beneath our feet. Soil, on which terrestrial life depends, is often ignored precisely because it is everywhere and yet invisible. Healthy soils contribute so much to human well-being, from nutritious food to clean water, and yet the soils of more than a fifth of all cropland, pasture, forest and woodland are degraded to some extent....

The leaders recognised that the biggest threat to a successful climate deal in Paris at COP21 in December – successful, at any rate, in diplomatic terms – is not the pledges that nations will make about their future greenhouse-gas emissions. Those are mostly already on the table in the form of Intended Nationally Determined Commitments.

The most likely reason why the talks in Paris could still collapse in a manner similar to...

It is no coincidence that we’re launching the Thrive podcast today, World Environment Day. The theme this year is sustainable consumption and production, and that’s exactly what drives the podcast’s first guest.

Andrew Noble is Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems. A soil scientist by training, his career has been spent developing the idea that only a holistic approach to agriculture can deliver the...