Pressure on some water, soil ecosystems at critical point: UN
The pressure on water and land
ecosystems at the global level was intense and, in some cases, at a critical
point, which might put the goal of feeding the world's population by 2050 at
risk, a UN report said Thursday.
The "State of the World's
Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture – Systems at breaking point
(SOLAW 2021)," launched by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO),
highlighted that around 33 per cent of the planet's soil was marked by moderate
to high degradation.
While the trends in resource use
were on the rise, and so was soil degradation, the availability of new land to
devote to agricultural production was low.
Adding the effects of climate
change and loss of biodiversity would mean that "the current agrifood
production patterns are not proving to be sustainable," according to the
report.
"Against this backdrop, it
is clear that our future food security will depend on safeguarding our land,
soil, and water resources," FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu said.
"The same agrifood systems
could play a crucial role in changing these patterns, alleviating the current
pressures on water and soil ecosystems, and reversing the land degradation
process," he added.
"Sustainable agricultural
practices could lead to direct improvements in the state of land, soil and
water, generating ecosystem benefits and reducing emissions from land,"
the FAO report said.
Yet, it added that only a
"much-reformed land and water governance" would allow remedial land
management.
"Any advance in
transforming food systems to meet future demand will require a focus on land
resource planning in which systemic analyses of land, soils, and water are
combined with poverty and food security monitoring," it said.