Global perspective Human stories

soil degradation

MONUSCO

News in Brief 27 July 2022

  • UN chief condemns attack on MONUSCO blue helmets, as possible ‘war crime’
  • Türkiye risks backtracking on women’s rights, says top rights expert
  • FAO warns that 90% of Earth’s topsoil will be at risk by 2050
Audio
3'9"
FAO/Giulio Napolitano

Healthy soil “enables” life on earth and mitigates climate change

Healthy soil “enables” life on earth and is one of the biggest bulwarks against climate change, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

About a third of the world’s soil has been degraded; the impacts of which range from food shortages and drought, to landslides and floods.

Soil degradation particularly affects subsistence farmers, according to FAO soil international consultant Lucrezia Caon, speaking ahead of World Soil Day, which falls on 5 December.