Scarcity and abundance of land resources for SOLAW
Overview
For an estimated world population of about 9 billion in 2050, agricultural production has to increase above year-2000 levels by about 70% globally and by 100% in developing countries. This has been leading to growing competition for land and water resources. The FAO report, the first global, baseline status report on these themes, analyses the current status of land and water resources together with trends. It assesses the biophysical and technical aspects of the resources and their use, and presents projections for the year 2050.
IIASA Research
LUS team prepared the Background Thematic Report (SOLAW TR02): ‘Scarcity and abundance of land resources: competing uses and the shrinking land resource base’ for the FAO report.
The Global AEZ (GAEZv3.0) offers a standardized framework for the characterization of climate, soil and terrain conditions relevant to agricultural production, which can be applied at global to sub-national levels. This framework was used to assess the status and trends of land and water resources. Themes covered include:
- land resources: historical trends, degradation
- availability of suitable land resources,
- constraints of land: soil and terrain, water scarcity, accessibility
- opportunities and risks for food and feed, future trends
By 2050 the world will need to feed about 50 percent more people than in 2000. From the viewpoint of resources it is possible to produce enough food for a projected 9 billion population in 2050 at the global level; however, one cannot ignore disparities across and within regions.
Related publications:
‘Scarcity and abundance of land resources: competing uses and the shrinking land resource base’, Background Thematic Report. Open pdf
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