GCRI · Food Nexus
Soil and land
Soil is the slowest food-system asset to build and one of the fastest to lose. Its organic matter, structure, nutrients and biology set how much water a field holds, how well crops use fertiliser and how a landscape absorbs rain. Erosion, salinisation, compaction, nutrient mining and conversion lower productivity long before the damage is visible. This page sets out how soil and land condition are measured, how degradation spreads, and who acts on the evidence.
Soil and land on the record.
Soil and land: how the risk develops.
Soil health, land degradation and productivity. The dossier below sets out how the risk develops, what is measured, where the data come from, how it is modelled and who decides.
Erosion removes the productive layer
Water and wind strip topsoil fastest where land is bare, steep or overgrazed. Topsoil holds most of the organic matter and nutrients, and it forms far more slowly than it is lost under poor management.
Nutrient mining and excess
Harvests remove nutrients that are not replaced where fertiliser is unaffordable, while heavy use elsewhere leaks nitrogen and phosphorus into water. Both lower long-term productivity, in different places.
Salinity and waterlogging
Irrigation without drainage raises water tables and leaves salts in the root zone. Coastal land takes salt from storm surges and from seawater drawn into overpumped aquifers.
Degradation feeds back
Degraded soil holds less water, so droughts bite sooner and floods run off faster. Lower yields push cultivation onto marginal land and forest, and the degradation front moves with it.
Growing conditions in the Black Sea region.
Land cover, root-zone soil moisture and crop greenness over the Black Sea region, from NASA GIBS. Each layer carries its own date.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 3
Growing conditions, for this page
About this layer
- Evidence
- Modelled (latest year GIBS publishes)
- Source
- MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1) (NASA LP DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA LP DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- yearly; Satellite classification; latest year GIBS publishes
- Newest at build
- 2024-01-01
- Resolution
- about 500 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite land cover classes for the year shown, including croplands; a classification with known errors, not a farm register.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Modelled
- Source
- SMAP Level 4 (NASA NSIDC DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA NSIDC DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Model with satellite data assimilated
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-11
- Resolution
- about 2 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Model with satellite data assimilated. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (clouds leave gaps)
- Source
- MODIS Terra NDVI (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite index; clouds leave gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-13
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite greenness index over the 8 days to the date shown; an indicator of crop and pasture condition, not a yield estimate or a food security warning.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed
- Source
- VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Satellite image
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-14
- Resolution
- about 250 m grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite image. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Observed (persistent cloud still leaves gaps)
- Source
- VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day (NASA LANCE)
- Provider
- NASA LANCE
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- 8-day; Satellite 8-day composite; persistent cloud still leaves gaps
- Newest at build
- 2026-09-14
- Resolution
- about 1 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Satellite skin temperature of the ground over the 8 days ending on the date shown, a heat exposure indicator; not air temperature, heat index or a heat warning.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
About this layer
- Evidence
- Modelled
- Source
- SMAP Level 4 (NASA NSIDC DAAC)
- Provider
- NASA NSIDC DAAC
- Licence
- NASA open data
- Vintage
- daily; Model with satellite data assimilated
- Newest at build
- 2026-10-11
- Resolution
- about 2 km grid
- Uncertainty
- Model with satellite data assimilated. Satellite or model raster as the provider publishes it. Clouds, swath gaps and retrieval error leave gaps and noise; values are indicators, not measurements at a place.
- Reached through
- gibs.earthdata.nasa.gov, only after you allow the live map
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Growing conditions, framed on the Black Sea region.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERTSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- SMAP Level 4 soil moisture and snow mass, NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office; distributed by the NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into hexagonal cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
- Observed (EO): NASA JPL OPERA DIST-ALERT (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA’s Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA’s Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- River discharge forecast, 30 days with range (GloFAS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information 2026; not a flood warning.
- Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
- Past year, daily temperature and sunshine (NASA POWER): These data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) POWER Project funded through the NASA Earth Science/Applied Science Program..
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (13 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
- Root-zone soil moisture, 0 to 100 cm: SMAP Level 4, NASA NSIDC DAAC · 11 Oct 2026
- Vegetation greenness (NDVI), rolling 8 days: MODIS Terra NDVI, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
- Surface soil moisture, 0 to 5 cm: SMAP Level 4, NASA NSIDC DAAC · 11 Oct 2026
Soil links water storage, carbon, food and nature.
| Domain | How it couples here | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Water | Soil structure and organic matter control infiltration and water holding capacity. See catchment hydrology. | Soil organic carbon in tonnes per hectare; infiltration rate |
| Energy | Bioenergy crops compete for land; tillage and fertiliser use energy. | Land under bioenergy feedstocks |
| Health | Dust storms from degraded land carry respiratory risk; soil contamination enters food. | Dust events; heavy metal testing in agricultural soils |
| Biodiversity | Soil biodiversity drives nutrient cycling; land conversion destroys habitat. See ecosystem integrity. | Land-cover change from natural to cropland |
SDG indicator 15.3.1 measures the proportion of land degraded through three sub-indicators: land cover change, land productivity and soil organic carbon, under UNCCD good practice guidance. The Global Land Outlook (second edition, 2022) and the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (2019) set the scientific context.
Crop and harvest monitor.
The screen a team would use to follow this subject: its measures, states and decisions. Names are examples and values are illustrative.
Crop and harvest monitor
Soil and land · Main season · Crop stage: grain fill
Crop calendar
- Land preparationdone
- Plantingdone
- Emergencedone
- Vegetativedone
- Grain fillnow
- Harvestnext
- Post-harvest
Vegetation index, season to date
Yield outlook by zone
| Highland zone | 2.1 | ▼ 8 | Medium |
| Coastal plain | 3.2 | ▼ 5 | Medium |
| Region North | 0.8 | ▼ 16 | Low |
| Region South | 1.0 | ▼ 6 | Medium |
Field assessment plots
red: crop stress observed
Land evidence and the field data that improves it.
Land and soil analyses are designed for the Country Systems Risk and Resilience series; land tenure questions stay with national authorities and customary institutions. Soil datasets would carry NS-3b metadata under the proposed Nexus Standards. Useful contributions: soil sampling results with methods, records of restoration outcomes and local knowledge of degradation, shared with consent.
Model soil and land as a system. Run the cascade.
Assembled from the Nexus Standards area profile Land and soil risk standards: the hazards it names, the systems and sectors that carry the loss, the controls that dampen it and the data that observe it. Choose the components, pick an initiating hazard and step through the cascade. The Map view places the run on an example geography with open data. Every coupling weight is a stated assumption you can change. A teaching model, not a forecast, an assessment or a certification. To model a place of your own choosing, open the full System Builder.
Hazards
- Soil erosion
- Desertification
- Land subsidence
- Dust storm
- Road crash (set off downstream)
- Outdoor air pollution episode (set off downstream)
- Coastal flood (set off downstream)
- High-tide flooding (set off downstream)
- Sea-level rise (set off downstream)
- Reservoir and channel siltation (set off downstream)
- Soil quality decline (set off downstream)
- Diffuse runoff pollution (set off downstream)
- Land degradation (set off downstream)
- Dune encroachment (set off downstream)
- Surface-water flood (set off downstream)
- Pipeline rupture (set off downstream)
- Water and resource conflict (set off downstream)
- Endemic fungal disease range expansion (set off downstream)
Systems and couplings
- Land and soil risk standards
- Food and agriculture risk standards Cascade
- Water risk standards Feedback
- Geophysical hazard standards Common driver
- Biodiversity and nature risk standards Cascade
Controls
NS-0Constitution and principlesNS-1The UNI and the artefact catalogue (grammar v0.2: domain, sector, region and environment segments)NS-3Risk record UNIs (grammar, legacy crosswalk, allocation authority)NS-3bDataset and product metadata profile (STAC, DCAT, PROV-O)NS-5Figure, map and visualisation standard (with the UI/UX kit)NS-9Contextual UNIs (deployments, instances, programme instances)NS-11Verification and monitoring (evidence, attestations, zero-trust conformance observation)NRS-H26Hazard family: Land and wetland degradation (NHS-1 eco.land)NRS-H13Hazard family: Water-quality degradation (NHS-1 water.quality)NRS-H20Hazard family: Ground deformation and subsidence (NHS-1 geo.ground)NRS-H65Hazard family: Planetary boundary transgressions (NHS-1 planet.boundary)NRS-H68Hazard family: Biome tipping elements (NHS-1 planet.biome-tipping)NRS-H11Hazard family: Coastal and sea-level hazards (NHS-1 water.coastal)
Observation
- SoilGrids 2.0 global soil property maps (listed for reference)
- ESA WorldCover 10 m land cover (listed for reference)
- Copernicus Land Monitoring Service products (listed for reference)
- Global Forest Watch tree cover loss (Hansen/UMD) and alerts (listed for reference)
- Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area
- Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture
- Forest area as a proportion of total land area
Example geography
- Pacific Island states: 150 hexagonal cells
- Surface soil moisture (SMAP), NASA GIBS
- Night lights tonight, outages (VIIRS Day/Night Band), NASA GIBS
- Rain rate, last half hour (IMERG), NASA GIBS
- Sulphur dioxide (OMPS, NOAA-20), NASA GIBS
What is measured, and how well.
Each indicator carries its unit, its cadence, the kind of source behind it and the evidence label a value would carry. No values are shown: a programme supplies them under its own authority.
| Indicator | Unit | Cadence | Source type | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soil organic carbon stock | tonnes of carbon per hectare to a stated depth | multi-year | Soil sampling, digital soil mapping | MODELLED |
| Proportion of land that is degraded (SDG 15.3.1) | percent of land area | reporting cycle | National reporting to the UNCCD | Published statistics |
| Land productivity dynamics | trend class | multi-year | Satellite net primary productivity time series | ESTIMATED |
| Soil erosion rate | tonnes per hectare per year | multi-year | Erosion models with field validation | MODELLED |
| Soil salinity | decisiemens per metre (electrical conductivity) | per survey | Soil sampling | OBSERVED |
| Soil nutrient balance | kilograms of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium per hectare per year | annual | Input and harvest accounts | ESTIMATED |
| Conversion to and from cropland | hectares | annual | Satellite land cover classification | OBSERVED |
How soil and land is modelled, measured and tested.
The model, its assumptions, its data and its uncertainty, in the form a scientist or engineer would check. Structures follow published methods. The values drawn are illustrative, not findings.
System model
The couplings between the systems in soil and land: signs of influence, a reinforcing and a balancing loop, and cross-links where stress jumps.
Where the evidence comes from.
Named public datasets and institutional records, each with its licence class. Sources by agreement are used only under their terms and never republished.
| Source | What it gives | Licence class |
|---|---|---|
| SoilGrids (ISRIC) | Global gridded soil properties with prediction uncertainty | Free and open, attribution |
| Harmonized World Soil Database (FAO and IIASA) | Soil units and attributes for crop and land evaluation | Free, terms per FAO and IIASA |
| Global Soil Partnership maps (FAO) | Country-driven maps of soil organic carbon and salt-affected soils | Free, terms per FAO |
| UNCCD national reporting and Trends.Earth | Land cover, land productivity and soil carbon sub-indicators of degradation | Public records; open-source tool |
| ESA WorldCover and Copernicus land cover | Cropland extent and land cover change | Free and open, attribution |
| LUCAS topsoil survey (European Commission JRC) | Harmonised topsoil samples for mapping and validation | Free on registration, terms per JRC |
| National soil surveys and laboratories | Soil profiles, analyses and national soil maps | Public records, terms per agency |
Who decides, and what the evidence serves.
Food Nexus prepares evidence. The decisions below are taken by the authorities named, under their own rules, and never by the platform.
| Who decides | The question | Evidence this page serves |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture and environment ministries | Where to target soil conservation, restoration and fertiliser support | Degradation hotspots, nutrient balances and soil maps with their uncertainty |
| National focal points to the UNCCD | How to report progress toward land degradation neutrality and which measures to commit | Sub-indicator layers with method, baseline and confidence |
| Irrigation and drainage authorities | Where salinity and waterlogging call for drainage investment or changed water management | Salinity sampling, water-table depth and irrigation records read together |
| Land administration and planning authorities | Where conversion of cropland, pasture or forest needs control or tenure support | Land cover change with tenure context, read against the Voluntary Guidelines on tenure |
Outputs this topic produces
- Soil and land condition maps with prediction uncertainty
- Degradation hotspot layers combining productivity, cover and carbon
- Nutrient balance accounts by district
- Restoration scenarios with productivity and water effects stated as ranges
What experts ask.
Soil condition is rarely visible in a single season, which is why it is easy to neglect. Yet it sets the ceiling on yields, the buffer against drought and flood, and the cost of producing food in future. Experts treat soil as natural capital that can be run down or rebuilt, with consequences that outlast any one harvest.
- What is the condition of soils in a production region, and how fast is it changing?
- Which practices restore organic matter, structure and water-holding capacity, and over what time scales?
- How does land degradation interact with drought, so that degraded land loses more yield in a dry year?
- How do tenure, incentives and markets shape whether land users invest in soil?
Drivers and processes.
Soil change is slow to build and fast to lose, which makes it a hidden driver of risk.
Erosion and compaction
Wind and water erosion remove fertile topsoil; heavy machinery and overgrazing compact soil and reduce infiltration.
Nutrients and salinity
Imbalanced fertilisation depletes some nutrients and pollutes water with others. Poorly drained irrigation raises salinity.
Soil life and carbon
Soil organisms cycle nutrients and build structure. Loss of organic carbon weakens both and releases greenhouse gases.
How the evidence is built, and its limits.
- 01
Soil sampling
Laboratory analysis gives precise measures at points; scaling to landscapes needs careful design and spatial statistics.
- 02
Digital soil mapping
Combines samples, terrain, climate and satellite data using spatial statistics. Maps carry prediction uncertainty that should be shown alongside them.
- 03
Remote sensing
Detects bare soil, vegetation cover and some erosion features, but cannot measure most soil properties directly.
- 04
Long-term trials
Decades-long experiments reveal how practices change soils. They are few, and results may not transfer between climates and soil types.
How it is studied, and what the methods cannot say.
- 01Agricultural, soil and food scienceCrop simulation for seasonal yield risk · Yield gap and nutrient limitation analysisApplied here
- 02Spatial statistics and geostatisticsSmall-area estimation of food insecurity · Digital soil mappingApplied here
- 03Earth observation and remote sensingCrop condition monitoring · Crop type and area mapping · Irrigation and water productivityApplied here
- 04Ecology and biodiversity sciencePollination and natural pest control · Fisheries and aquatic food websApplied here
- 05Hydrology and water scienceIrrigation supply and demand · Agricultural drought monitoring · Flood exposure of croplandApplied here
Where this page’s references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
- Global Land Outlook, second edition (UNCCD, 2022)
- Status of the World’s Soil Resources (FAO and the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils, 2015)
- IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (IPCC, 2019)
- Good Practice Guidance for SDG indicator 15.3.1, version 2 (UNCCD, 2021)
- NS-3b, Dataset and product metadata profile, a proposed standard
Questions and answers.
What is land degradation neutrality?
Can soil carbon be measured from space?
Why does salinity matter for food?
Is land degradation reversible?
Does Food Nexus verify soil carbon claims?
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