Maximum Yield USA 2012 January | Page 30

MAX FACTS hydroponic news, tips and trivia UN Assessment Finds 25 Per Cent of World’s Land Degraded A first-ever global assessment of the state of the planet’s land resources by the United Nations has revealed that a full quarter of the land on our planet is highly degraded. The report warns that this trend must be reversed if the world’s growing population is to be fed and that a major “sustainable intensification” of agricultural productivity on existing farmland will be required as key foodproducing systems are currently at risk of being unable to meet human needs by the year 2050. UN Food and Agriculture Organization director-general Jacques Diouf called the consequences of inaction “unacceptable”, saying that “ ɕ