Soil, land, water. These are the basics, the building blocks of our agrifood systems, and supply over 95 percent of food consumed. Though there is much more to it than that, a new FAO report is reminding us of these foundations. And the foundations, it seems, are cracking.
FAO’s new State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture 2021 (SOLAW) warns us that the foundations of our agrifood systems — soil, land and water — are already at their “breaking point.”
The amount of cultivated land increased by 15 percent between 1961 and 2017. And while human use of land and water for agriculture has not yet peaked, all evidence points to slowing growth in productivity, the rapid exhaustion of productive capacity and more damage to the environment. Already, approximately a third of the world’s soil resources are classified as moderately to highly degraded.
The SOLAW 2021 synthesis report argues that innovative solutions and collaboration need to prevail for the long-term future of land, soil and water.
Here are its 4 main recommendations:
1) Degradation knows no boundaries. Governance should follow suit.
National policies and laws that govern land and water resources are often disjointed or lack implementation. These have often proven ineffective due to institutional and technical silos. What’s more, there is often a mismatch in jurisdiction, since the boundaries of interconnected water system often do not correlate with political or administrative boundaries.
Land and water policies also need to be more inclusive and flexible, taking into account marginalized groups and smallholder farmers to ensure they have access to resources they need. FAO’s Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA) global initiative under the Climate Agreement aims to strengthen land and water governance and make it more inclusive by integrating climate adaptation and mitigation policies across agricultural sectors. Examples of specific issues addressed under KJWA include solutions to improve the levels of carbon in soil and wetlands and the health and fertility of grasslands and croplands.
2) Integrated solutions through data and planning
Pressures on land and water systems risk compromising agricultural productivity where growth is needed the most, meaning planning around such resources is crucial.
New tools are helping planners understand the extent and location of yield and production gaps. A web-based, freely available land resources planning toolbox developed by FAO is helping break down barriers between regions and sectors. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, yields are only 24 percent of what is achievable with higher levels of input, such as better irrigation and organic fertilizers, in addition to sound resource management. Similar issues are found in Central America, India and Russia.