Soil degradation
“Why is the world losing fertile soil faster than nature can make it?”
Root causes (expand to see solutions)
Soil degradation is the wearing-out of topsoil, the thin living layer that grows 95% of the world's food. Farming now strips it faster than nature can rebuild it.
What's at stake
Degraded soil holds less water and carbon, so rain runs off instead of soaking in, the ground bakes hard in drought, and its stored carbon escapes into the air. Subsequent harvests shrink and hold fewer nutrients. And once the soil is exhausted, farmers clear forest for fresh land that erodes in turn.
The global picture
Sahel
High severity
Expanding deserts and eroding soils are swallowing farmland.
Farmland degrades in rich countries too, from topsoil loss across the US Corn Belt to erosion in southern Europe.