PopEnvironment Linkages  Overview Air and Climate Biodiversity Coasts and Oceans Conflict and Security Crosscutting Issues Demographics Development and Economics Food and Agriculture General Information Food Resources Agricultural Productivity Arable Land / Soil Depletion Agricultural and Food Practices Pesticides Food Distribution Irrigation Crops Diet Food and Agriculture Policies Regional Examples Bibliography Freshwater Health Land Use PopEnvironment Home PopPlanet Home		Food and Agriculture > Food Resources > Arable Land / Soil Depletion [5] 1 Title Conserving Land: Population and Sustainable Food Production Author Robert Engelman and Pamela LeRoy Abstract This document explores the effects of population upon agricultural capacity in the present context of pest evolution, greater dependence on fossil fuel based technologies, the depletion of water aquifers, resource scarcity, and the possible degradation of soil quality. Supposing a leveling off of available agricultural land, the paper looks at the impact of growing human numbers upon a finite or degrading resource, and its effect upon food security. While acknowledging a less tenable connection between human population and land degradation the document explores the possibilities that human ingenuity, coupled with a restriction in the rate of human increase, can lead to a sustainable increase in human population. The document is replete with illustrative figures, charts and maps, surveying population and agricultural use of the land from the eighteenth century to the present. Type Report Affiliation Population Action International URL: http://www.cnie.org/pop/conserving/landuse.htm Peer Review Independent Review Process 2 Title Policy Changes Needed to Meet Threats to Land and Water Author 2020 VISION News & Views, July 1995 Abstract Soil and water are the basic natural resources on which agriculture depends, and both are expected to come under serious pressure as the world population rises toward a projected total of 8 billion over the next 25 years. As the demand for water mounts, competition for water among agricultural, industrial, and residential purposes will increase within countries, and tensions between countries that share water basins could escalate into open conflict." Type Article Affiliation International Food Policy Research Institute URL: http://www.cgiar.org/ifpri/2020/newslet/nv_0795/nv_0795e.htm Peer Review Unknown Review Process 3 Title Soil and Water Conservation Issues Author Jeffrey Zinn Abstract Nontechnical review of issue prepared for the U.S. Congress to assist in public policy development. Type CRS Report Affiliation Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress URL: http://www.cnie.org/nle/ag-18.html Peer Review Internal Review Process 4 Title Soil Map of Brazil Author Norman B. Bliss Abstract Explanation of how to download data and utilize it. Type Database Affiliation EROS Data Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, U.S.A. URL: http://grid2.cr.usgs.gov/data/brsoil11d.html Peer Review Unknown Review Process 5 Title Study Finds Worldwide Soil Erosion Costly Author 2020 VISION News & Views, February 1995 Abstract The most comprehensive study to date on the costs of soil erosion, David Pimentel and his colleagues at Cornell University report in a recent issue of Science magazine that soil erosion causes up to US$400 billion in damage worldwide. According to the study, "In many parts of the world, where irrigation is not possible or fertilizers are too costly, the price of erosion is paid in reduced food production." Type Article Affiliation International Food Policy Research Institute URL: http://www.cgiar.org/ifpri/2020/newslet/nv_0295/nv_0295d.htm Peer Review Unknown Review Process