A new study by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) paints a stark picture of agricultural land degradation, particularly in the Arab region. More than 46 million hectares—nearly two-thirds of all land suffering human-induced damage in the region—are now at risk. The findings, published in Agriculture (MDPI), stress the urgent need to restore degraded land to safeguard food supplies, especially where climate pressures are mounting.
The Arab Spring started because of the price of bread and the lack of water resources to grow food. The civil war in Syria began for the same reasons. As the Arab world gets drier, conflicts in countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan will only get more intense.
Globally, an estimated 1.66 billion hectares of land have been degraded by human activities such as deforestation, overgrazing, mismanaged irrigation, and heavy chemical use. Over 60 percent of that damage falls on croplands and pastures—the soils that feed 95 percent of the world’s population. If allowed to worsen, degradation could undercut entire agrifood systems and the communities that depend on them.
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Across the Arab world, croplands face a perfect storm of stressors. Excessive fertilizers and pesticides erode soil ecology. Poor drainage and over-irrigation drive salinization, leaving fields crusted with salt. Rising temperatures, dwindling groundwater, and more frequent sand-and-dust storms—all amplified by climate change—compound the crisis. These are unmistakably human-driven pressures, and they are accelerating. Consider that Morocco lost half its wheat last year from drought. How many more migrants and climate refugees from the Middle East and North Africa can Europe accept? The solution is to help.
Less than 4 percent of degraded land in the Arab region is currently earmarked for restoration. FAO analysts calculate that rehabilitating 26 million hectares of worn-out cropland could trim yield gaps by as much as 50 percent for oil crops and lift cereals, roots, and tubers toward their full potential—a direct boost to local food security and rural incomes.
The study urges governments, farmers, investors, and researchers to adopt integrated soil, water, and land-management strategies designed to stop further degradation and rebuild fertility. Rather than relying on one-off projects, it recommends coordinated regional programs that share data, finance, and know-how—tailored to the diverse ecological zones from Morocco’s Atlantic coast to Iraq’s river valleys. Israel has water technologies from water companies such as Netafim to help rip irrigation deliver more drops per crop.
Momentum is growing. Recent ministerial meetings in Riyadh committed to ambitious restoration targets, and the UN’s FAO-backed NENA Regional Investment Framework for Ecosystem Restoration is lining up “champion countries” to pilot scalable projects. Innovative tools such as the Suitability Crop Platform—an open database of soil profiles, climate metrics, and crop requirements—are making it easier for farmers and planners to match the right crops to recovering lands.
See this museum of Middle East soil in the UAE
Healthy soils do more than grow food. They store carbon, regulate water, and support biodiversity—services that underpin every other climate-adaptation effort. By restoring degraded fields, countries in the Arab region can build jobs, reduce rural poverty, and bolster resilience against heat and drought. The lesson is clear: investing in the ground beneath our feet is the fastest way to secure food sovereignty in a hotter, drier future.
