Assessing the Impact of Soil Degradation on Food Production
Continuing soil degradation is a threat to future food security. Nevertheless, current degradation assessments give divergent and unverified outcomes. A comprehensive approach is required for a better assessment of both the extent and impact of soil degradation on various scales. Such an approach should combine process-based ecological modelling with remote sensing to distinguish natural variations from human induced soil degradation.
Prevention and rehabilitation require local solutions
Global soil degradation assessments are based on qualitative expert judgements or remotely sensed quantitative proxy values that suffice to raise awareness but are too coarse to identify appropriate sustainable land management interventions. Case studies in China and sub-Saharan Africa not only illustrate the considerable impact of degradation on crop production, but also show that interventions must be location-specific. A shared common knowledge base cataloguing hard-won location-specific interventions is needed for successfully preventing degradation and to rehabilitate degraded areas.
Authors
Specifications
- Publication title
- Assessing the Impact of Soil Degradation on Food Production
- Publication date
- 30 November 2012
- Publication type
- Publicatie
- Magazine
- Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability
- Product number
- 964