Land recycling, food security and Technosols

Abstract

The world population will grow up to 9.8 billion by 2050. The intensification in urban growth will occur on all continents and in all sizes of cities, especially in developing countries, experiencing a greater rising in urban agglomerations of 300,000 to 500,000 people, those of 500,000 to 1 million and those of 1 to 5 million, by 2035. In this way, the demand of soil to host human activities (land take) will increase, mainly affecting soils with greater agricultural potential close to cities, at the same time as the need for food will increase. Land rehabilitation can contribute to human food security, to enhance ecosystem services and, if made by waste Technosols, those are viable as substrate for urban agroforestry systems.Although the references for brownfield reclamation for urban agriculture,adding constructed Technosols and de-sealed soils can recover its ecosystem functions even food supply services and would be the solution in urban areas.

Low-Quality Irrigation Water Treated Using Waste Biofilters

“…Worldwide water resources are increasingly coming under pressure, leading to water scarcity and a deterioration in water quality. The expected growth of the human population [1,2] entails an increase in global demand for resources such as food or water, 60% and 55%, respectively, by 2050 [3][4][5]. Future projections consider that a lack of water will affect 60% of the world's population by 2025 [6,7].…”

Environmental Risk from Organic Residues

“…However, an efficient supply of nutrients to the soil is increasingly necessary since soil nutrient imbalance is a global threat to food security and ecosystem sustainability [1]. To optimize soil nutrient cycles and solve functional problems, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) [2] and other authors [3][4][5] propose adding organic residues or constructing technosols [6][7][8], in line with sustainable agriculture, circular economy strategy and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [9][10][11]. At the same time, the European Green Deal (EGD) aims towards carbon neutrality until 2050, with midterm goals of at least 55% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.…”