Africa is seen by many as the continent with the greatest potential for agricultural growth, including large companies like Syngenta, but also growing economies like China. In addition, land degradation and environmental change threaten the African soil ressource much more severely than in many other regions of the planet. Finally, the well-being of poor Afican small-scale farmers as well as entire national economies rely heavily on the protection and regeneration of their soils. This session aims at giving an overview of the current research and state of knowledge on soils in Africa, identifying the risks to the environmental services they provide to Africa and the world, as well as examples of sustainable land use and the research needs to restore, develop and maintain these services. Contributions from all areas of soil science, agronomy, ecology, hydrology and geography are invited to contribute to this session. The session is also officially supported by the IUSS division 3.2, Soil & Water Conservation.