A nexus approach to soil and land management

The document advocates for a 'nexus' approach to land management to address the conflict between the need for increased agricultural productivity and the reality of land degradation. It highlights that while 24% of global land is degraded, a significant portion is improving through restoration. The proposed nexus approach seeks to move beyond the narrow goal of maximizing yields to reduce tradeoffs and build synergies between water, energy, food, and climate regulation.

• Agriculture is central to the challenge of providing necessities for 7 billion people, yet it simultaneously acts as a primary driver of biodiversity loss and the degradation of land and water.
• Global land health is mixed: 24% of the world's land (including over one-third of cropland) is degraded, with 12 million hectares lost annually to desertification or droughts, while the GLADA study indicates that nearly 16% of global land area—and 20% of croplands—is improving via reclamation, irrigation, and forest plantations.
• The 'nexus' approach is proposed as a solution to unsustainable agricultural practices caused by a narrow focus on farm revenues and crop yields; it aims to account for externalities and create synergies between natural resources (soil, land, water, carbon, nutrients), sectors (water, energy, food), and climate regulation through methods like carbon sequestration.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2013). A nexus approach to soil and land management. https://www.sei.org/publications/a-nexus-approach-to-soil-and-land-management/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. A nexus approach to soil and land management. 2013. https://www.sei.org/publications/a-nexus-approach-to-soil-and-land-management/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=A nexus approach to soil and land management |date=23 August 2013 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/a-nexus-approach-to-soil-and-land-management/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2013nexus, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{A nexus approach to soil and land management}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2013}, month = aug, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/a-nexus-approach-to-soil-and-land-management/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }