CHINA. A farmer works on the Longji Rice Terraces in Guangxi.
© Guang Sheng

The State of THE WORLD’S LAND AND WATER RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE 2025

Chapter 6 Conclusions

The challenges

Land, soil and water form the foundations of agricultural production. In order to meet the demands of a growing global population, FAO estimates that by 2050, agriculture needs to produce about 50 percent more food, feed and fibre than it generated in 2012. Achieving this objective will place additional pressure on the world’s already overstretched water, land and soil resources.

Land productivity has increased substantially in response to increasing demand, but this has often had a negative effect on the environment.

Human-induced land degradation affects agricultural lands and the people depending on land for their livelihoods.

Unprecedented pressure on land, soil and water resources, with competition between sectors, is increasingly affecting agriculture, as productive land is lost and water availability reduced.

Social and gender inequalities persist in access to and governance of land and water resources; this undermines food security, especially for the most vulnerable groups.

Climate change affects all components of agrifood systems, including land, soil and water resources. Sustainable management of these vital resources can play a key role in both mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. However, investments and climate finance continue to be scarce and inadequate.

Climate mitigation and adaptation measures need to be carefully planned to avoid maladaptation or unintended consequences, including additional pressure on scarce water resources or further degradation of land resources.

This flagship publication is part of The State of the World series of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Required citation:
FAO. 2025. The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture 2025 – The potential to produce more and better.
Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd7488en

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Dashed lines on maps represent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

Some rights reserved. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution- 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.en).

Under the terms of this licence, this work may be copied, redistributed and adapted, provided that the work is appropriately cited. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that FAO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The use of the FAO logo is not permitted. If a translation or adaptation of this work is created, it must include the following disclaimer along with the required citation: “This translation [or adaptation] was not created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation [or adaptation]. The original English edition shall be the authoritative edition.”

Any dispute arising under this licence that cannot be settled amicably shall be referred to arbitration in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The parties shall be bound by any arbitration award rendered as a result of such arbitration as the final adjudication of such a dispute.

Third-party materials. This Creative Commons licence CC BY 4.0 does not apply to non-FAO copyright materials included in this publication. Users wishing to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such as tables, figures or images, are responsible for determining whether permission is needed for that reuse and for obtaining permission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned component in the work rests solely with the user.

FAO photographs. FAO photographs that may appear in this work are not subject to the above-mentioned Creative Commons licence. Queries for the use of any FAO photographs should be submitted to: photo-library@fao.org.

Sales, rights and licensing. FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and print copies can be purchased through the distributors listed there. For general enquiries about FAO publications please contact: publications@fao.org. Queries regarding rights and licensing of publications should be submitted to: copyright@fao.org.

VIET NAM. A lone farmer walks between rice paddy fields in Yen Bai.