This paper seeks to provide an overview of the relationships between food insecurity, land degradation and desertification, and its antithesis, food security and sustainable land management. It places particular focus on the world's drylands (i.e. arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas), but situates the review within the wider context of global food systems and the macro-processes that drive land degradation and desertification. It is revealed that food insecurity can be attributed to a range of demand-side and supply-side causes, which include political, economic, social and environmental factors. Land degradation and desertification are shown to be exogenous issues that can amplify and aggravate food insecurity. Addressing desertification, including land, soil, water and plant degradation, can facilitate or ease the food security dilemma, but may not completely solve it in the presence of other underlying causes. According to recent data, approximately 1.56 billion hectares of land is currently used to produce crops for human and livestock consumption, and 3.4 billion hectares are devoted to livestock production (12% and 26% of the Earth's total land surface respectively) (Bruinsma, 2009). Although theoretically the world produces enough food for everyone, approximately one billion people are estimated to be undernourished (GDPRD, 2012). Evidence further suggests that producing more food in an unsustainable way may place a much larger share of the population at risk of food insecurity. In the context of a growing world population and other important sustainability challenges (such as land degradation and desertification, biodiversity loss, a decline in the availability and quality of water, and a changing climate), ensuring that agricultural and food systems are sustainable is a particularly urgent issue, both at present and looking forward to the future. Indeed, a recent report commissioned by the British Government warns that the world is threatened by a major food crisis within 20 years unless action is taken urgently (GOS, 2011).

Combating Land Degradation and Desertification and Enhancing Food Security: Towards Integrated Solutions (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259459408_Combating_Land_Degra… [accessed Dec 11 2017].