The discovering comes in the newest State of Meals and Agriculture (SOFA) report by the UN Meals and Agriculture Group (FAO), launched on Monday in Rome.
“The report delivers a transparent message: land degradation is not only an environmental concern – it impacts agricultural productiveness, rural livelihoods and meals safety,” the UN company stated.
Human exercise driving degradation
Land is the core of agrifood programs, supporting over 95 % of meals manufacturing along with offering important ecosystem providers that maintain life on the planet.
Land degradation sometimes outcomes from a mixture of things, FAO defined, together with pure drivers equivalent to soil erosion and salinization.
Nonetheless, human actions equivalent to deforestation, overgrazing, and unsustainable irrigation practices, are actually among the many main contributors.
Measuring the impression
To measure degradation, the report in contrast present values of three key indicators – soil natural carbon, soil erosion, and soil water – towards circumstances that may exist with out human exercise below native or pure states.
The information was processed by way of a machine-learning mannequin that integrates environmental and socio-economic drivers of change to estimate the land’s baseline situation within the absence of human exercise.
The report estimates that round 1.7 billion individuals worldwide dwell in areas the place crop yields are 10 per cent decrease on account of human-driven land degradation. They embrace 47 million youngsters below the age of 5 who’re affected by stunting.
“In absolute numbers, Asian international locations are essentially the most affected – each due to their amassed degradation debt and their excessive inhabitants densities,” FAO stated.
Tens of millions may gain advantage
The report outlines actionable alternatives for built-in sustainable land-use and administration practices, alongside tailor-made insurance policies.
By reversing simply 10 per cent of human-induced degradation on current croplands by way of crop rotations or different sustainable land administration practices may produce sufficient to feed an further 154 million individuals a yr.
“To grab these alternatives, we should act decisively. Sustainable land administration requires enabling environments that assist long-term funding, innovation and stewardship,” FAO Director-Basic Dongyu Qu wrote within the report’s foreword.
