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FAO Releases Status of the World’s Soil Resources 2026
The news comprises the Food and Agriculture Organization releasing the Status of the World’s Soil Resources 2026 report during UNCCD COP17’s Food Systems and Soil Health Day. The report comprises findings that global soil degradation is worsening and sustainable soil-management practices are not being adopted.
Status of the World’s Soil Resources 2026:
| Dimension | Key Details |
|---|---|
| Food security linkage | The report comprises 95% of the food consumed by humans coming from soil. |
| Regional assessment trend since 2015 | The report comprises 58% of regional assessments reporting worsened soil conditions since 2015 and around 10% reporting improvement. |
| Single biggest soil problem | The report comprises soil erosion as the single biggest soil problem. |
| Erosion management and trend | The report comprises 81% of assessments rating erosion management as poor or very poor and 65% reporting that erosion conditions are deteriorating. |
| India: land degradation scale | The report comprises India accounting for the largest share of land degradation in South Asia and 30-37% of India’s land area being estimated to be degraded. |
| India: water erosion | The report comprises about 11% (83 million hectares) being affected in India specifically by water erosion. |
| India: annual soil and nutrient loss | The report comprises India losing around 4.8-5.3 billion tonnes of soil annually through erosion and carrying away approximately 8 million tonnes of plant nutrients every year. |
| India: soil permanently lost to the sea | The report comprises around 29% of eroded soil being estimated to be permanently lost to the sea. |
| Nitrogen surplus classification | The report comprises India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan being classified as having unsustainably high nitrogen surpluses. |
| Nitrogen uptake efficiency | The report comprises only 30-45% of applied nitrogen being taken up by crops in India, compared with a global average of 59%. |
| Policy concern: subsidies and soil health | The report comprises agricultural subsidies incentivising higher production rather than healthier soils. |
| Policy coordination flagged | The report comprises a call for better coordination among agriculture, land, climate, biodiversity, and nutrition policies. |
| Soil health and nutrition linkage flagged | The report comprises a disconnect between soil health and human nutrition, particularly regarding micronutrient availability and malnutrition. |
| FAO: UN status and role | FAO comprises a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international initiatives to eliminate hunger and enhance nutrition and food security. |
| FAO membership | FAO comprises 195 members: 194 countries and the European Union. |
| FAO: other key reports | FAO reports comprise the FAO Food Price Index, The State of the World’s Forests (SOFO), The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA), The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO), and The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI). |