Climate Change Is Making Soils Saltier, Forcing Many Farmers to Find New Livelihoods

Today it would be very expensive and logistically challenging to gather enough salt to render large swaths of land infertile.  But that is precisely what climate change is doing in many parts of the world.

As sea levels rise, low-lying coastal areas are increasingly being inundated with saltwater, gradually contaminating the soil.  These salts can be dissipated by rainfall, but climate change is also increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, including droughts and heat waves.  This leads to more intensive use of groundwater for drinking and irrigation, which further depletes the water table and allows even more salt to leach into soil.

We have documented this process in Bangladesh, but its impacts are much broader.  Our findings show that rising soil salinity is already influencing agricultural production and internal migration in some locations, and could affect many other coastal areas where farming takes place, from Asia to the U.S. Pacific and Gulf coasts.

Read more at Climate Change Is Making Soils Saltier, Forcing Many Farmers to Find New Livelihoods