NEED FOR A NEW APPROACH

In many countries, soils are being used with an increasing intensity to meet the needs of growing populations. Higher demands for food and increasing material expectations call for the optimization of the use of available natural resources and a more even distribution of wealth. The two major factors in this regard are land and people, the former because it is finite and the latter because their demands for land are increasing .

The relationships between land and population have an impact not only on food production and malnutrition, but also on competition for land, mismanagement and environmental degradation, mass migration and political conflicts. These issues are symptoms of a fundamental problem, ie, conflict resolution mechanisms are not coping with technologic advances and increasing population .

Over the past 20 years, FAO has prepared guidelines for land use planning [nd has gained experience in the identification of physical land constraints and remedial land interventions , the management of problem soils  and data collection/ retrieval for land evaluation and land use purposes. In the process, data collection and interpretation has advanced beyond the narrow bounds of soil science, focusing on the broader land requirements of specific crops and cropping systems.