In some parts of the world, intensive farming, overgrazing and deforestation are destroying soil up to 1,000 times as fast as the base line rate of erosion. If current trends continue, 90 percent of the planet’s habitable land areas could be substantially degraded by 2050, causing crop yields to drop by an average of 10 percent — and up to 50 percent in some areas — and most likely forcing up to hundreds of millions of people to migrate.
