9 November 2021, 17:00-17:45 WET, Water Pavilion of the COP26, Glasgow, UK

In collaboration with The Dutch Government, the Global Soil Partnership-the International Network of Salt-Affected Soils, Wageningen University & Research and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

This session brought together government representatives of the Global South and of the North, international partnerships hosted by the FAO, as well as business, civil society and researchers to address head on the challenge of salinity (a water scarcity and land degradation issue), which is increasingly becoming one of the important global challenges for food production and biodiversity, due to climate change with significant global impact. It is a threat to agriculture production, with estimates predicting that 50% of all arable land will become impacted by salinity by 2050 (Wang et al., 2003). The current global annual cost of salt-induced land degradation in irrigated areas is estimated to $ 27.3 billion, associated with the loss of crop production (European Commission, 2019). It affects the poorest farmers, mostly women, and concerns deltas, inland and coastal areas and specifically Small Islands Developing States (SIDS).

During this session, different solutions related to sustainable water and soil management practices were presented, as well as halophyte agriculture as an emerging response and a sustainable opportunity for adapting farming and food production systems in several parts of the world, in both the Global South and the North. The stakeholders involved include governments, UN agencies, academic and research institutions, the private sector and civil society who are actively collaborating to find innovative solutions to salinity in agriculture. FAO and several international institutions support these initiatives, including through research on food systems, assessing current and future options for action addressing this challenge. 

Watch the recording of the WASAG event here.