Land degradation is rapidly becoming one of the most serious and under-appreciated risks facing global agrifood systems, undermining food security, livelihoods, and ecological stability at a time of rising demand and intensifying climate stress. According to new analysis from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), more than 95 percent of global food production depends on land, yet the capacity of this finite resource is being steadily eroded by unsustainable land use, deforestation, overgrazing, and poor agricultural practices.

FAO’s latest assessment highlights that land degradation is no longer a marginal environmental issue but a structural constraint on agricultural productivity and economic resilience across countries of all income levels. While its effects range from gradual yield declines to outright land abandonment, the cumulative damage is weakening the natural foundation on which agrifood systems depend.

Globally, an estimated 1.7 billion people live in areas where historically accumulated land degradation has directly reduced crop yields, posing a clear threat to food security. Nearly one billion of those affected are in middle-income countries, where agricultural intensification has masked land damage in the short term while amplifying long-term environmental costs. In high-income countries, heavy reliance on fertilizers and other inputs has sustained yields but at the expense of soil health, water quality, and ecosystem stability.

The pressure extends beyond croplands. FAO notes that degradation affects rangelands critical for livestock systems and is closely linked to deforestation driven by agricultural expansion. Nearly 90 percent of global deforestation is associated with agriculture, largely through cropland expansion and pasture development, disrupting climate regulation and biodiversity at scale.

The burden of degradation is not evenly distributed. Southern and Eastern Asia host the largest populations exposed to yield losses caused by human-induced land degradation, reflecting a combination of high population density and accumulated degradation debt. In regions where land degradation overlaps with poverty and food insecurity—such as northern India, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and parts of West Africa—the consequences are particularly severe. FAO estimates that these hotspots include 47 million children under the age of five suffering from stunting, highlighting the direct human cost of degraded land.

Farm structure also shapes vulnerability and response capacity. Of the world’s 570 million farms, 85 percent are smaller than two hectares yet manage only 9 percent of global farmland, while just 0.1 percent of farms—those exceeding 1,000 hectares—control nearly half. Medium-sized farms play a pivotal role in Africa and Asia, managing roughly half of all farmland in those regions. FAO stresses that farms of all sizes are critical to food security, with medium and large farms supplying most global crop calories, while smallholders remain indispensable in low- and lower-middle-income countries.

The economic cost of land degradation is substantial—and reversible. FAO estimates that restoring just 10 percent of degraded croplands could generate enough additional production to feed 154 million people annually. Restoring abandoned agricultural land could potentially feed hundreds of millions more. Yet these figures still underestimate the true cost, as they exclude impacts on pasturelands and the loss of ecosystem services that benefit society at large.

The productivity effects of degradation vary sharply by income group. While high-income countries experience the largest per-hectare losses due to intensive farming systems, upper-middle-income countries face the greatest absolute production losses. In low-income countries, yield losses from degradation are compounded by limited access to inputs, mechanization, and technology, widening existing yield gaps.

FAO warns that without decisive action, land degradation will continue to erode agricultural productivity, increase costs, and accelerate land abandonment, particularly in long-intensified farming systems. However, the agency emphasizes that degradation is not inevitable. More than 130 countries have committed to Land Degradation Neutrality under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, with SDG Target 15.3 calling for a land degradation-neutral world by 2030.

Achieving this goal, FAO argues, requires aligning global commitments with local realities, differentiating restoration strategies based on land condition, strengthening land governance and tenure security, scaling proven restoration practices, and investing in people, policies, and sustainable land management systems. Farmers’ decisions are shaped by profitability and risk, making policy coherence, long-term financing, and institutional coordination essential.

FAO concludes that while land degradation poses a profound challenge to food security, climate resilience, and biodiversity, the solutions are within reach. Restoring land at scale could strengthen agrifood systems, feed hundreds of millions more people, and safeguard ecosystems for future generations. The choice, FAO stresses, is no longer whether to act—but how quickly and decisively the world responds.

Source: https://www.fao.org/interactive/2025/tackling-land-degradation/en/