FAO: Agricultural Land Degradation Threatens Food Security in the Arab Region
A new study released by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has revealed alarming levels of agricultural land degradation globally, highlighting the critical situation in the Arab region, where over 46 million hectares of farmland are experiencing degradation due to human activities.
According to the study published in the MDPI journal Agriculture, more than two-thirds of degraded lands in the Arab region are under threat, posing a serious challenge to food security in one of the driest areas with scarce natural resources. The FAO also indicated that 95% of global food production relies on land, making soil degradation a direct threat to global food systems.
The study confirmed that land degradation now affects 1.66 billion hectares worldwide, driven by human activities, with more than 60% of this area being agricultural land, either cropland or pasture. It called for integrated solutions to prevent soil degradation and reverse its impacts through sustainable management of natural resources—soil, water, and land.
The study urged the international community to prioritize transforming food systems into more sustainable and resilient ones, achieving what is known as "land degradation neutrality," an approach aimed at maintaining productivity, protecting biodiversity, and addressing climate change impacts.
It noted that agricultural lands in the Arab region are degrading at an accelerated pace, particularly cultivated lands, due to excessive fertilizer and pesticide use, increased soil salinity resulting from improper irrigation practices, alongside rising dust storms, water scarcity, and elevated temperatures due to climate change.
Estimates indicate that less than 4% of land in the region has been allocated for restoration operations, significantly below the globally targeted levels. The study revealed that rehabilitating 26 million hectares of degraded land could reduce the productivity gap by up to 50% in oilseed crops and enable cereal, root, and tuber crops to achieve their production potential.
The FAO emphasized the need to launch a comprehensive regional initiative that considers local contexts and promotes cooperation among Arab states to rehabilitate degraded lands, enhance food security, alleviate poverty, and build resilient agricultural and food systems.
This initiative builds on the momentum created by the Riyadh Action Agenda, launched at the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (COP16) in December 2024, which was hosted by the Arab region for the first time. The FAO’s efforts in this conference contributed to the historic decision 19/COP.16 related to halting agricultural land degradation.
Currently, the FAO is leading the regional investment framework for ecosystem restoration in the Near East and North Africa (NENA), in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Convention to Combat Desertification, and the Arab League. It has also launched the "Suitability Crop Platform," a digital platform providing accurate data on soil and crops to support sustainable agricultural planning.
These efforts aim to integrate land restoration into national policies, enhance agricultural communities’ resilience to climate change, support biodiversity, and achieve sustainable livelihoods in the arid regions of the Arab world.
