Food resources are not infinite, warns FAO report

Feeding a projected 10 billion people by 2050 will demand bold and smarter decisions in how the world manages its land, soil, and water, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warns in a new flagship report. Expanding agricultural areas is no longer a viable option, the report adds, as these natural resources are finite.

In 2024, an estimated 673 million people faced hunger, while many regions continued to endure severe and recurring food crises. These pressures will only intensify as the global population nears 9.7 billion by 2050, requiring agriculture to produce 50% more food and feed — and 25% more freshwater — than in 2012.

The latest edition of The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture (SOLAW 2025), released on 1 December, underscores the finite nature of these essential resources. Safeguarding them is critical to ensuring global food security now and in the decades ahead.

Under the theme “The potential to produce more and better,” the report highlights the vast yet underutilized capacity of land and water to support sustainable growth in food production. It offers strategies to produce more — and better — food for a growing population while managing land, soil, and water responsibly and resiliently.

Of all the economic sectors, agriculture, covering one-third of the world’s land (4.8 billion ha), has by far the greatest impact on land resources. The situation is similar for water resources, with agriculture accounting for 72% of global water withdrawal, the report says.

The core challenge: producing more with less

Over the past 60 years, global agricultural production has tripled, while the area of agricultural land expanded by just 8% — but this came with steep environmental and social costs. Today, more than 60% of human-induced land degradation occurs on agricultural land, according to FAO data.

Expanding agricultural area is no longer sustainable, the report stresses. Clearing forests or converting fragile ecosystems would erode biodiversity and undermine the very ecosystem services agriculture depends on.

FAO estimates that more than 1.6 billion hectares (ha) of land, corresponding to more than 10% of the world’s land area, have been degraded by unsustainable land-use and management practices. More than 60% of this degradation occurs on agricultural lands (including cropland and pastureland), creating unprecedented pressure on the world’s agrifood systems.

Globally, urban areas more than doubled in size in just two decades, growing from 33 million hectares (Mha) in 1992 to 71 Mha in 2015. This expansion consumed 24 Mha of some of the most fertile croplands, 3.3 Mha of forestlands and 4.6 Mha of shrubland.

Solutions exist — but action must be swift

SOLAW 2025 lays out science-based recommendations for the sustainable use and management of land, soil, and water resources.

The report estimates that the world has the potential to feed up to 10.3 billion people by 2085, when the global population is expected to peak. But success depends on how food is produced — and at what environmental, social, and economic costs.

Future productivity gains must come from smarter, not simply greater, production. This means closing yield gaps (the difference between actual and potential yields), diversifying resilient crop varieties, and adopting locally adapted, resource-efficient practices suited to specific land, soil, and water conditions.

Rainfed agriculture — the backbone for millions of smallholder farmers — holds particular promise. Productivity can rise sharply by scaling up conservation agriculture, drought-tolerant crops, and drought-resilient practices such as soil moisture conservation, crop diversification, and organic composting. These approaches can enhance food security for millions while improving soil health and on-farm biodiversity.

Integrated systems such as agroforestry, rotational grazing, forage improvement, and rice–fish farming offer further pathways to sustainable intensification.

The potential for large productivity gains is especially strong in developing regions. In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, rainfed crop yields currently reach just 24 percent of their attainable potential under proper management.

There is no single pathway and no universal solution, the report emphasizes. Sustainable progress requires coherent policies, strong governance, accessible data and technology, innovation, effective risk management, sustainable financing, and capacity building across institutions and communities.

As the climate crisis reshapes where and how food can be grown, “the choices we make today for managing land and water resources will determine how we meet current and future demands while protecting the planet for generations to come,” FAO Director-General QU Dongyu writes in the report’s foreword.

Looking ahead

The need for integrated solutions to address food, climate, land, soil, water and biodiversity challenges is emerging from several international processes, it says.

In 2026, the three Rio Conventions — the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — will convene major conferences. SOLAW 2025 offers solutions that bridge these agendas, providing a shared foundation for integrated, sustainable land, soil, and water management to build resilient agrifood systems.

Land, soil, and water solutions are central to food security, nutrition, human well-being, and the achievement of global sustainability goals.