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The preservation, development and sustainable use of agricultural land are of vital importance to ensure long-term food security. On a global level, food security is closely linked to Goal 1 of the Millennium Development Goals, namely to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by, amongst others, halving, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. In addition, Goal 7 aims to ensure environmental sustainability by, amongst others, integrating the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reversing the loss of environmental resources. This would include the loss of agricultural land to other developments.
Agenda 21, adopted by the United Nations in 1992, urges governments to assess the impacts of current policies on, amongst others, food and agricultural sector performance, food security and rural welfare. The major thrust of food security referred to here is to bring about a significant and sustainable increase in agricultural production. In this regard it is necessary to formulate, introduce and monitor policies, laws and regulations leading to sustainable agricultural development.
