Restoration of Agroecosystems with Conservation Agriculture for Food
Security to achieve UN-Sustainable Development Goals
Abstract
Sustainability of agroecosystems is the most challenging task for humans
in this anthropocentric era. The faulty agriculture practices and
several undesirable anthropological factors caused substantial soil
erosion, desertification, and soil dryness, resulting in a severe
decline in soil biodiversity and crop productivity. The mismanagement of
agriculture land has deteriorated around 25% of the world’s total land
area, resulting in the annual loss of approximately 24 billion tonnes of
soil. By 2050, 95% world’s land might be degraded if current trends
continue. The tillage practices are responsible for more than 150 t ha
-1 of annual soil loss around the world. Soil erosion
is responsible for 40% of all soil deterioration worldwide.
Agricultural land degradation is mainly caused by intensive soil
ploughing, removal or burning of crop leftovers, poor pasture
management, and insufficient crop rotations. Conservation Agriculture
(CA) practices are essential for soil quality restoration and
improvement. The global annual adoption rate of CA has been 7 M ha year
-1 over the last ten years. By decreasing soil
erosion, maintaining soil structure, and encouraging soil organisms, by
using CA practices, Brazil has stored around 12 million tonnes of carbon
from 23.6 M ha of land. The regenerative CA practices are also important
to the achievement the sustainable development goals (SDGs). This review
seeks to gather and provide collective literature on the global
agroecosystem situation and the impact of CA methods in restoring our
degraded agroecosystems for food security.