Challenges to global food security are: (i) population increase from 7 billion in 2011 to 9.2 billion in 2050, (ii) climate change, (iii) soil degradation by erosion, salinization, organic matter and nutrient depletion, and elemental imbalance, (iv) decreased availability of water, (v) land competition for urbanization, brick making, biofuel, and non-agricultural uses, and (vi) preferences toward animal-based diet. Global hotspots food insecurity are South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Adopting concepts of ecohydrology, enhancing green water in the root zone, can create climate-resilient agriculture to advance food security and improve the environment. An effective governance is needed to implement policies which promote restorative land uses and recommended management practices. Furthermore, payments for ecosystem services may be a useful strategy to promote sustainable intensification of agriculture by resources-poor farmers.
Challenges in securing adequate healthy food for the world’s growing human population can be met in part by adopting agricultural practices that feed the soil, according to a report published in Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology, which has won the monthly Elsevier Atlas Award.

Read the story about the award-winning research

More than 10 million children under five living in developing countries around the world die each year due to hunger-related causes. Millions more suffer from chronic hunger or malnutrition. Looking to the future, the demand for food will only grow as the world’s population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by the year 2050. The challenges to food security can seem almost insurmountable. But according to a paper awarded the Elsevier Atlas Award in November 2016, solutions and reasons for hope can be found by remembering to keep the land fed first.

In the research article published in the journal Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology in April 2013, Rattan Lal of The Ohio State University’s Carbon Management and Sequestration Center says that food security in a changing climate can be achieved in part by adopting basic principles of ecohydrology, an interdisciplinary field focused on the interaction between water and ecosystems. As a first step, Lal calls on policymakers, farmers, and the general public to recognize that the health of people depends on the health of the land and soil.

“The health of soil, plants, animals, people, and ecosystems is one and indivisible,” Lal said. “Healthier soil creates healthier people. That’s especially true for micronutrient deficiency. If the soil is deficient, then the plants grown in it are deficient and the food consumed by people is deficient. Therefore landscape management for conserving and sustaining soil resources is essential.”