Conflicting interests for use of agricultural soils, today and in future – example Uppsala

Last changed: 02 September 2022

An overview plan for Uppsala municipality states that approximately 10-15 square kilometers which today are agricultural land, may be exploited for urban expansion. Such a large-scale exploitation of agricultural land is hardly compatible with long-term sustainable development since we need to ensure our primary needs of water, food and heat - even during periods of instability when trade and transports do not work well.

Food supply is globally one of the most important fate issues, as food availability needs to double by 2050. At the same time, fertile soils are lost in the traces of overexploitation - the available arable land in the world is on the critical limit to provide its population with enough food (Peak Soil).

Minimizing unsustainable exploitation

Today, Sweden imports 50 percent of its food from a world that needs its food better than we, and where rain forests are deforested to provide new cropland. Access to fertile land will have an increased strategic and economic importance. We thus need to minimize the unsustainable exploitation of high-quality cultivation lands.

Innovation and restoration important questions

Innovative solutions are needed to minimize building exploration of arable land, yet meet the needs of housing and infrastructure. How the soils are to be handled in any exploitation phase, so that they can be restored to agricultural land if necessary, is a crucial question.