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In Brief to The State of The World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture 2025

The potential to produce more and better










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FAO. 2025. In Brief to The State of The World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture 2025 – The potential to produce more and better. Rome





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    Book (stand-alone)
    The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture 2025
    The potential to produce more and better
    2025
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    In order to meet the demands of a growing global population, agriculture needs to produce about 50 percent more food, feed and fibre by 2050 compared with the volumes it generated in 2012, according to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Achieving such objectives will place additional pressure on the world's already overstretched water, land and soil resources. In an increasing number of regions, food security and agrifood systems are at risk from unsustainable natural resource management practices, urban expansion, higher demand for food, water, energy and biomaterials, and persisting social and gender inequalities in access to and governance of resources. FAO estimates that more than 1.6 billion hectares (ha) of land, corresponding to more than 10 percent of the world’s land area, have been degraded by unsustainable land-use and management practices. More than 60 percent of this degradation occurs on agricultural lands (including cropland and pastureland), creating unprecedented pressure on the world’s agrifood systems. Globally, urban areas more than doubled in size in just two decades, growing from 33 million hectares (Mha) in 1992 to 71 Mha in 2015. This expansion consumed 24 Mha of some of the most fertile croplands, 3.3 Mha of forestlands and 4.6 Mha of shrubland.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (stand-alone)
    The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture 2021 – Systems at breaking point
    Main Report
    2022
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    Satisfying the changing food habits and increased demand for food intensifies pressure on the world’s water, land and soil resources. However, agriculture bears great promise to alleviate these pressures and provide multiple opportunities to contribute to global goals. Sustainable agricultural practices lead to water saving, soil conservation, sustainable land management, conservation of natural resources, ecosystem and climate change benefits. Accomplishing this requires accurate information and a major change in how we manage these resources. It also requires complementing efforts from outside the natural resources management domain to maximize synergies and manage trade-offs. The objective of SOLAW 2021 is to build awareness of the status of land and water resources, highlighting the risks, and informing on related opportunities and challenges, also underlining the essential contribution of appropriate policies, institutions and investments. Recent assessments, projections and scenarios from the international community show the continued and increasing depletion of land and water resources, loss of biodiversity, associated degradation and pollution, and scarcity in the primary natural resources. SOLAW 2021 highlights the major risks and trends related to land and water and presents means of resolving competition among users and generating multiple benefits for people and the environment. The DPSIR framework was followed in order to identify the Drivers, Pressures, Status, Impact and Responses. SOLAW 2021 provides an update of the knowledge base and presents a suite of responses and actions to inform decision-makers in the public, private, and civil sectors for a transformation from degradation and vulnerability toward sustainability and resilience.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (stand-alone)
    The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture – Systems at breaking point (SOLAW 2021)
    Synthesis report 2021
    2021
    Satisfying the changing food habits and increased demand for food intensifies pressure on the world’s water, land and soil resources. However, agriculture bears great promise to alleviate these pressures and provide multiple opportunities to contribute to global goals. Sustainable agricultural practices lead to water saving, soil conservation, sustainable land management, conservation of natural resources, ecosystem and climate change benefits. Accomplishing this requires accurate information and a major change in how we manage these resources. It also requires complementing efforts from outside the natural resources management domain to maximize synergies and manage trade-offs.The objective of SOLAW 2021 is to build awareness of the status of land and water resources, highlighting the risks, and informing on related opportunities and challenges, also underlining the essential contribution of appropriate policies, institutions and investments. Recent assessments, projections and scenarios from the international community show the continued and increasing depletion of land and water resources, loss of biodiversity, associated degradation and pollution, and scarcity in the primary natural resources. SOLAW 2021 highlights the major risks and trends related to land and water and presents means of resolving competition among users and generating multiple benefits for people and the environment. The DPSIR framework was followed in order to identify the Drivers, Pressures, Status, Impact and Responses. SOLAW 2021 provides an update of the knowledge base and presents a suite of responses and actions to inform decision-makers in the public, private, and civil sectors for a transformation from degradation and vulnerability toward sustainability and resilience.

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