Natural Processes Linked to Climate Changes that Threaten Food Security

Abstract

Food security in many parts of the world is threatened when soil becomes non-productive or when arable land is lost. This can be considered a hazard that threatens the well being of citizens where salinization is an existing problem or could become a problem or intensify from global warming/climate change. In addition to a progressive loss of crop quality and yield from soil erosion and nutrient withdrawal without replenishment, the salinization process gradually coats the roots of growing produce with an accumulation crusts of salts that precipitate from rain or irrigation water until nutrients can not penetrate the crusts and plants wilt and die. Mitigation of this process is possible by regularly flushing out the salts before they reach concentrations that precipitate and encrust crop roots and moving the dissolved salt charged flush waters away from productive land [1].