Current Soil and Water Conservation Strategies: Pathways Toward Sustainable Food Systems and Climate Resilience

Dear Colleagues,

1) Introduction:

Global food systems are currently facing unprecedented pressures from climate change, soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and rapidly growing food demand. Soils are the foundation of agricultural productivity, yet more than one-third of the world’s soils are degraded by erosion, nutrient depletion, salinization, contamination, and declines in organic matter. Water scarcity is increasingly recognized as a parallel and interlinked threat, with altered precipitation patterns, extreme droughts, and floods intensifying the vulnerability of agricultural landscapes and rural communities. The urgent need to transition toward sustainable soil and water management has never been greater.

Soil and water conservation strategies, such as regenerative agriculture, agroecological practices, precision nutrient management, nature-based solutions, and improved catchment hydrology, offer pathways to restore ecosystem functions while maintaining or enhancing food production. These practices contribute not only to erosion control, soil fertility improvement, and groundwater recharge, but also to climate mitigation through carbon sequestration and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

At the science–policy interface, there is a growing push to integrate land restoration goals with climate adaptation strategies and sustainable development frameworks (e.g., SDGs 2, 6, 13, and 15). However, scaling up conservation practices requires a stronger evidence base, locally adaptable solutions, innovative technologies, and inclusive socio-economic approaches.

This Special Issue brings together interdisciplinary knowledge, case studies, and advancements in soil and water conservation to support climate-resilient and sustainable food systems. It will highlight practical implementations, new monitoring tools, and policy interventions that can accelerate the transformation toward resilient agricultural landscapes under changing environmental conditions.

2) Aim of the Special Issue and how the subject relates to the journal scope.

This Special Issue aims to collect high-quality research addressing innovative, efficient, and scalable soil and water conservation solutions that contribute to sustainable food systems and climate resilience. We welcome studies that quantify environmental and agronomic benefits, explore socio-economic drivers and barriers, or develop new technologies and decision-support tools for land and water stewardship.

The SI focuses on sustainable management of natural resources, environmental protection, and biodiversity preservation. Soil and water are essential natural assets whose conservation is central to ecosystem stability and human well-being. By showcasing multidisciplinary evidence from labs, field experiments, modelling, and governance approaches, this SI supports the journal’s mission to promote strategies that balance resource use and environmental sustainability. It will provide policymakers, land managers, and practitioners working toward resilient agricultural landscapes and climate-adapted communities with valuable scientific insights.

3) Suggest themes.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Soil conservation practices for climate-resilient agriculture;
• Water-smart farming: irrigation efficiency and drought adaptation;
• Soil carbon enhancement and greenhouse gas mitigation;
• Nature-based solutions for erosion and flood control;
• Circular resource use (e.g., biochar, compost, wastewater reuse);
• Land restoration in vulnerable environments (arid, acidic, mountainous, coastal);
• Conservation agriculture and regenerative food production systems;
• Impacts of agrochemical reduction on soil and water quality.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Prof. Dr. Gabrijel Ondrasek
Guest Editor

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