FAO: Global Status of Salinity Soils 2024

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has published a report on the global status of saline soils. Salt-affected soils are specific soils with elevated levels of soluble salts (saline soils) or exchangeable sodium (sodic soils), which adversely affect the growth of most plants. The technical criterion used to distinguish saline soils from other soils is the relatively high electrical conductivity of the saturated paste extract, or the relatively high soluble salt content. The salinity thresholds exceeded for harmful effects on plants vary depending on the type of plant, the type of salt, and the health and fertility of the soil.

Drivers of salinization and solidification are both natural and anthropogenic. Primary (natural) causes of soil salinization and solidification include climate change and its related phenomena; exacerbated by sea-level rise; and tsunamis. Secondary soil salinization and solidification can be caused by irrigation with poor water quality, inappropriate drainage or irrigation practices, deforestation and removal of deep-rooted vegetation, over-extraction in coastal and inland areas, overuse of fertilizers, use of de-icing agents, and mining activities.

Saline soils are found on all continents, but their severity varies. Natural saline and salt marshes are often found in arid, semi-arid and coastal regions, where they can host valuable, adapted ecosystems, housing species that can only survive in such soils.

The report provides a new estimate of the global area of ​​salinized soils, which totals 1.381 billion hectares, or 10.7% of the world's total land area.

Estimates dating back to the 1980s and early 1990s suggest that 450,000 hectares (19.5%) of the world's irrigated land and 320,000 hectares (2.1%) of rain-fed cropland, totaling 770,000 hectares, are affected by salinity. Ten percent of irrigated cropland and 10 percent of rain-fed cropland are affected by salinity or alkalinity, although uncertainty remains high due to the lack of available data.

Models of global drought trends in the 21st century predict that it could increase to 24% to 32% of the total land surface under current temperature increases. Up to 80% of droughts will occur in developing countries.

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