In a context marked by the climate crisis, demographic pressure and rising resource costs, soil conservation has become a strategic priority. Although rarely at the center of debate, the planet’s soil supports food production, regulates water, stores carbon and harbors biodiversity essential for life.
However, all this natural treasure, accumulated over centuries, is being lost at a rate that worries the scientific community and international organizations. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Program and the scientific platform IPBES have been issuing the same warning for years, “land degradation is no longer a local or sectoral problem, but a major threat to the ecological, economic and social balance of the planet.”
The figures speak for themselves. Up to 40% of the earth’s surface presents some degree of degradation, a situation that directly affects a very large part of the world’s population and hits rural and most vulnerable communities especially hard. Every year, in addition, nearly 100 million hectares of healthy and productive land are degraded, the equivalent of four football fields per second. This soil erosion not only reduces the ability to produce food, but weakens entire ecosystems and limits the planet’s ability to sustain life in stable conditions.
Much more than land
Talking about soil is not just talking about land. It is talking about a living, complex and fragile system, inhabited by microorganisms, fungi, insects and other organisms that make fertility, nutrient recycling and ecological balance possible. When that system loses organic matter, structure, or the ability to retain water, the consequences extend far beyond farms.
The loss of fertile soil reduces crop productivity, increases exposure to droughts and floods, and weakens entire ecosystems. In a world that will have to feed a growing population in increasingly unstable climatic conditions, land degradation also becomes a risk for food security.
The economic and social dimension of the problem is equally profound. The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services estimates that land degradation negatively affects 3.2 billion people and generates losses equivalent to about 10% of annual gross global product. The United Nations has also warned that this deterioration could reduce global food productivity by around 12% and raise food prices by up to 30% by 2040.
Soil degradation also leaves its mark on water. The loss of vegetation cover, erosion, pollution and overexploitation of basins reduce the quality and availability of water resources in many regions. According to IPBES, four out of five people already live in areas exposed to threats to water security, a fact that shows the extent to which the deterioration of the terrain has an impact on daily life and the stability of productive systems.
The link with climate change is direct. Healthy soils store carbon and help buffer the effects of extreme events. Degraded soils, on the other hand, lose organic carbon, retain less water and reduce their recovery capacity. For FAO and UNEP, restoring degraded soils is among the most effective measures to strengthen climate adaptation, improve food security and protect biodiversity.
Fight for conservation
The origin of this deterioration is multifactorial. Agricultural expansion, deforestation, overgrazing, urbanization, pollution and inadequate land management are among the main factors. The UN itself highlights that agriculture has transformed or eliminated nearly 70% of the planet’s grasslands and half of the savannahs, a transformation that has increased pressure on already vulnerable ecosystems.
Given this scenario, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification promotes the objective of achieving neutrality in land degradation by 2030, a goal assumed by 131 countries. The idea is to avoid new losses, reduce existing damage and restore already degraded land.
The message that emerges from international reports is clear, recovering the soil is not only possible, but also profitable from an ecological, economic and social point of view.