Sustainability in Land and Water Systems

By Michael Higgins

Land and water management can play a significant role in conserving natural resources and agriculture sustainability. The understanding of land and water systems along with sustainable agriculture practices is also strategic for implementing ethical solutions to help reverse climate change. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FOA) is working diligently to promote intelligent approaches to sustainable land and water management in coordination with partnerships and collaborative endeavors. This has led to FAO’s progress for sustainable development which includes “the governance and management of food production systems; the provision of essential ecosystem services; food security; human health; biodiversity conservation; and the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change” (FAO, 2019).

Thus, it is vital to increase sustainability of land, soils, water, and ecosystem services as a strategic response to the consequential effects of climate change.  According to FAO (2019), some of these responses should include: 1) sustainable land management (SLM); 2) improved soil health while safeguarding sufficient levels of soil organic matter (SOM); 3) sustainable management of water resources; 4) conservation of natural resources; and 5) restoring degraded ecosystem services.

We will explore some of these responses that could help reduce the effects of climate change in more detail in coming blog posts.

FAO (2019). Promoting coherence and coordination on land and water. Website: http://www.fao.org/land-water/overview/en/  Assessed 24 September 2019.