Excerpt
Expansion of land area under agroecosystems has numerous ecological and environmental consequences. Important among these are decline in habitat of natural species and reduction in biodiversity, increase in risks of accelerated erosion and nonpoint source pollution, and emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs; carbon dioxide [CO2], methane [CH4], and nitrous oxide [N2O]) from the terrestrial biosphere into the atmosphere with the attendant increase in the risks of global warming. Thus, a great challenge facing humanity lies in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (United Nations 2014) while restoring quality of natural resources (soil, water, and air) and saving land for nature conservancy. Therefore, the objective of this article is to discuss the conceptual basis of land-saving technologies for advancing food and nutritional security while improving the environment, adapting to and mitigating anthropogenic climate change, and enhancing biodiversity. This paper specifically focuses on one important dimension of the food security debate, and that is on the need to reduce (rather than expand) the use of land area, water, fertilizers, and pesticides, while achieving food and nutritional security and restoring the environment. The discussion provides hypothetical scenarios for increasing agricultural production while reducing the land area under agriculture along with…
- © 2018 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
