Soil Salinity: Historical Perspectives and a World Overview of the Problem

Abstract

Soil salinity is not a recent phenomenon, it has been reported since centuries where humanity and salinity have lived one aside the other. A good example is from Mesopotamia where the early civilizations first flourished and then failed due to human-induced salinization. A publication ‘Salt and silt in ancient Mesopotamian agriculture’ highlights the history of salinization in Mesopotamia where three episodes (earliest and most serious one affected Southern Iraq from 2400 BC until at least 1700 BC, a milder episode in Central Iraq occurred between 1200 and 900 BC, and the east of Baghdad, became salinized after 1200 AD) have been reported. There are reports clearly revealing that ‘many societies based on irrigated agriculture have failed’, e.g. Mesopotamia and the Viru valley of Peru. The flooding, over-irrigation, seepage, silting, and a rising water table have been reported the main causes of soil salinization. Recent statistics of global extent of soil salinization do not exist, however, various scientists reported extent differently based on different data sources, such as there have been reports like, 10% of the total arable land as being affected by salinity and sodicity, one billion hectares are covered with saline and/or sodic soils, and between 25% and 30% of irrigated lands are salt-affected and essentially commercially unproductive, global distribution of salt-affected soils are 954 million ha, FAO in 1988 presented 932 million ha salt-affected soils, of almost 1500 million ha of dryland agriculture, 32 million ha are salt-affected. Precise information on the recent estimates of global extent of salt-affected soils do not exist, many countries have assessed their soils and soil salinization at the national level, such as Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Middle East, and Australia etc. Considering the current extent of salt-affected soils the cost of salt-induced land degradation in 2013 was $441 per hectare, a simple benefit transfer suggests the current annual economic losses could be $27 billion.

Full text

Chapter 2
Soil Salinity: Historical Perspectives
and a World Overview of the Problem
Abstract Soil salinity is not a recent phenomenon, it has been reported since
centuries where humanity and salinity have lived one aside the other. A good example
is from Mesopotamia where the early civilizations first flourished and then failed due
to human-induced salinization. A publication ‘Salt and silt in ancient Mesopotamian
agriculture’highlights the history of salinization in Mesopotamia where three epi-
sodes (earliest and most serious one affected Southern Iraq from 2400 BC until at least
1700 BC, a milder episode in Central Iraq occurred between 1200 and 900 BC, and the
east of Baghdad, became salinized after 1200 AD) have been reported. There are
reports clearly revealing that ‘many societies based on irrigated agriculture have
failed’, e.g. Mesopotamia and the Viru valley of Peru. The flooding, over-irrigation,
seepage, silting, and a rising water table have been reported the main causes of soil
salinization. Recent statistics of global extent of soil salinization do not exist, however,
various scientists reported extent differently based on different data sources, such as
there have been reports like, 10% of the total arable land as being affected by salinity
and sodicity, one billion hectares are covered with saline and/or sodic soils, and
between 25% and 30% of irrigated lands are salt-affected and essentially commercially
unproductive, global distribution of salt-affected soils are 954 million ha, FAO in 1988
presented 932 million ha salt-affected soils, of almost 1500 million ha of dryland
agriculture, 32 million ha are salt-affected. Precise information on the recent estimates
of global extent of salt-affected soils do not exist, many countries have assessed their
soils and soil salinization at the national level, such as Kuwait, United Arab Emirates,
Middle East, and Australia etc. Considering the current extent of salt-affected soils the
cost of salt-induced land degradation in 2013 was $441 per hectare, a simple benefit
transfer suggests the current annual economic losses could be $27 billion.
Keywords Historical perspective · Mesopotamia · Iraq · Global extent · Economic
losses · Viru valley
Shabbir A. Shahid, Mohammad Zaman, and Lee Heng
©International Atomic Energy Agency 2018
M. Zaman et al., Guideline for Salinity Assessment, Mitigation and Adaptation Using
Nuclear and Related Techniques,https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96190-3_2
43

1 Introduction
Soil salinity is a major global issue owing to its adverse impact on agricultural
productivity and sustainability. Salinity problems occur under all climatic conditions
and can result from both natural and human-induced actions. Generally speaking,
saline soils occur in arid and semi-arid regions where rainfall is insufficient to meet
the water requirements of the crops, and leach mineral salts out of the root-zone. The
association between humans and salinity has existed for centuries and historical
records show that many civilizations have failed due to increases in the salinity of
agricultural fields, the most known example being Mesopotamia (now Iraq). Soil
salinity undermines the resource base by decreasing soil quality and can occur due to
natural causes or from misuse and mismanagement to an extent which jeopardizes
the integrity of soil’s self-regulatory capacity.
Soil salinity is dynamic and spreading globally in over 100 countries; no conti-
nent is completely free from salinity (Fig. 2.1). Soil salinization is projected to
increase in future climate change scenarios due to sea level rise and impact on
coastal areas, and the rise in temperature that will inevitably lead to increase
evaporation and further salinization. Salinization of soils can affect ecosystems to
an extent where they no longer can provide ‘environmental services’to their full
potential. It is realized that recent estimates of the global extent of soil salinization do
not exist. But it can be assumed that, since the earlier data gathering in the 1970s and
1980s, salinization has expanded as newly affected areas most probably exceed the
areas restored through reclamation and rehabilitation. There is a long list of countries
where salt-induced land degradation occurs. Some well-known regions where sali-
nization is extensively reported include the Aral Sea Basin (Amu-Darya and
Syr-Darya River Basins) in Central Asia, the Indo-Gangetic Basin in India, the
Fig. 2.1 World map representing countries with salinity problems. (https://www.researchgate.net/
publication/262495450)
44 2 Soil Salinity: Historical Perspectives and a World Overview of the Problem

Indus Basin in Pakistan, the Yellow River Basin in China, the Euphrates Basin in
Syria and Iraq, the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia, and the San Joaquin Valley in
the United States (Qadir et al. 2014).
2 Soil Salinity –A Historical and Contemporary
Perspective
For centuries, humanity and salinity have lived one aside the other. There is good
evidence for Mesopotamia that early civilizations flourished and then failed due to
human-induced salinization. Jacobson and Adams (1958), in their publication, ‘Salt
and silt in ancient Mesopotamian agriculture’highlighted the history of salinization
in Mesopotamia. Ancient records show three episodes of soil salinization in Iraq.
The earliest and the most serious one affected Southern Iraq from 2400 BC until at
least 1700 BC. A milder episode in Central Iraq occurred between1200 BC and
900 BC, and there is archeological evidence that the Nahrwan area, east of Baghdad,
became salinized after 1200 AD. Flooding, over-irrigation, seepage, silting, and a
rising water-table are considered to be the main reasons for these episodes of
increased salinization (Gelburd 1985).
In southern Iraq in 3500 BC, both wheat and barley were equally important
cultivated crops, though after 100 years wheat had slipped to one sixth, and by
2100 BC, its cultivation had become almost insignificant, dropping to only 2%. By
1700 BC, wheat cultivation was completely phased out. Historical records show that
concurrent with the shift to barley cultivation, there was an appreciable and serious
decline in soil fertility and gradual declines in barley yields, which for the most part
can be attributed to salinization (Jacobson and Adams 1958). Thus, after almost
5000 years of successful irrigated agriculture, the Sumerian civilization failed. In the
Indus plains of Pakistan and India, the practice of irrigation began about 2000 years
ago during the Harapa civilization, but it is only recently that serious problems of
salinity and sodicity are being encountered. In the Viru valley of Peru, irrigated
agriculture began between 800 BC and 30 AD (Wiley 1953), and by 800 AD, the
population was at a peak. Then from 1200 AD, the population declined appreciably
and the residents of the once densely populated Viru valley bottom relocated to more
narrow upper reaches of the valley. The historians partly attribute this relocation to
increased salinity and a rising water- table, together with inadequate soil drainage
(Armillas 1961). Tanji (1990) draws a historical perspective of irrigation-induced
salinity in several regions. In a similar perspective, general remarks by Wiley (1953)
clearly reveal that ‘many societies based on irrigated agriculture have failed’,
e.g. Mesopotamia and the Viru valley of Peru.
2 Soil Salinity –A Historical and Contemporary Perspective 45

3 An Overview of Salinity Problem
The earth’s land surface is 13.2 10
9
ha, but only 7 10
9
ha of this is arable, of
which only 1.5 10
9
ha is currently cultivated (Massoud 1981). Of the cultivated
lands, about 0.34 10
9
ha (23%) are saline and 0.56 10
9
ha (37%) are sodic.
Older estimates (Szabolcs 1989) described 10% of the total arable land as being
affected by salinity and sodicity, with the effects extending to over 100 countries in
all continents. One billion hectares of the 13.2 10
9
hectares of the land is, thus,
covered with saline and/or sodic soils, and between 25% and 30% of irrigated lands
are salt-affected and essentially commercially unproductive.
The countries affected by salinization are predominantly located in arid and semi-
arid regions, where continued irrigation with low quality groundwater has taken
place. Low rainfall has also contributed to the expansion of salt-affected soils. The
largest area of the world’s saline soils occurs in the arid and semi-arid regions
(Massoud 1974; Ponnamperuma 1984), where evapotranspiration exceeds precipi-
tation. The rapid conversion into barren land through salinity/sodicity has negatively
affected the environment and has substantially altered natural resources in a number
of countries. Worldwide, some ten million hectares of irrigated land is abandoned
annually because of salinization, sodication and waterlogging (Szabolcs 1989).
These degraded soils occur principally in the hot arid and semi-arid regions,
although they have also been recorded in Polar Regions (Buringh 1979).
Global statistics on salt-affected soils vary according to different data sources.
Saline soils occupied more than 20% of the world’s irrigated area by the mid-1990s
(Ghassemi et al. 1995). Since then, the extent of salinity has likely increased and, in
some countries, salt-affected soils occur on more than half of the irrigated lands
(Metternicht and Zinck 2003). Kovda and Szabolcs (1979) reported global distribu-
tion of salt-affected soils as 954 million ha. Data summarized from Szabolcs (1974)
for Europe and Massoud (1977) for the other continents, as reported by Abrol et al.
(1988) in FAO Soils Bulletin 39, presents 932.2 million ha of salt-affected soils
(Table 2.1). Of almost 1500 million ha of dryland agriculture, 32 million ha are salt-
affected (FAO 2000). Although recent estimates of global extent of salt-affected
soils do not exist, many countries have assessed their soils and soil salinization levels
at the national level, such as Kuwait (Shahid et al. 2002), United Arab Emirates
Table 2.1 Worldwide
distribution of salt-affected
areas (Million ha)
Area Saline soils Sodic soils Total Percent
Australasia 17.6 340.0 357.6 38.4
Asia 194.7 121.9 316.5 33.9
America 77.6 69.3 146.9 15.8
Africa 53.5 26.9 80.4 8.60
Europe 7.8 22.9 30.8 3.30
World 351.2 581.0 932.2 100
Source:Abrol et al. (1988) in FAO Soil Bulletin 39; Summary of
data for Europe (Szabolcs 1974) and for other continents
(Massoud 1977)
46 2 Soil Salinity: Historical Perspectives and a World Overview of the Problem

(EAD 2009,2012), Middle East (Hussein 2001; Shahid et al. 2010), and Australia
(Oldeman et al. 1991).
In a comprehensive overview of the global identification of salinity problems and
the global salinity status, Shahid (2013) reported that about 200 10
6
hectares of
land is affected by salinity in Southwest USA and Mexico. In Spain, Portugal,
Greece, and Italy, saltwater intrusion into aquifers is appreciable; in Spain more
than 20% of the land area is desert, or is seriously degraded and, thus,
nonproductive.
In the Middle East, 20 10
6
hectares are affected by increased soil salinity, the
reasons being poor irrigation practices, high evaporation rates, growth of sabkhas
(salt scalds), and an increase in groundwater salinity. In addition, productivity of the
irrigated lands of the Euphrates basin (Syria, Iraq) is seriously constrained by
salinity. In Iran, 14.2% of the total land area is salt-affected (Pazira 1999). In
Egypt, 1 10
6
hectares of land which could be cultivated along the Nile is salt-
affected. Salt accumulation in the Jordan River basin adversely affects agricultural
production in Syria and Jordan. In Africa, 80 10
6
hectares is saline, sodic, or
saline-sodic, of which the Sahel, in West Africa, is the most affected.
In Asia, 20% of India’s cultivable land, mainly in Rajasthan, coastal Gujarat, and
the Indo-Gangetic plains, is affected by salinity or sodicity. In Pakistan, 10 10
6
hectares is affected and about 5–10 hectares per hour is lost to salinity and/or
waterlogging in coastal regions and in the irrigated Indus basin. In Bangladesh,
310
6
hectares is unproductive due to salinity. In Thailand, 3.58 10
6
hectares is
salt-affected (3.0 10
6
hectares being inland and 0.58 10
6
hectares being coastal
saline soils). In China, 26 10
6
hectares of their total land area is salt-affected (Inner
Mongolia, the Yellow River basin and tidal coastal regions), while in Australia the
extent of saline soils is 357 10
6
hectares.
The global extent and distribution of 76.6 million hectares of human-induced salt-
affected soils (Oldeman et al. 1991) and a similar distribution for irrigated lands
affected by secondary salinization (Ghassemi et al. 1995) are presented in Tables 2.2
and 2.3. These soils are distributed in desert and semi-desert regions, frequently
occurring in fertile alluvial plains, river valleys, coastal areas and in irrigation
districts. The countries where significant salinity problems exist include, but are
not limited, to Australia, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Pakistan, the
Table 2.2 Global extent of human-induced salinization (Oldeman et al. 1991; Mashali 1995)
Continent
Degree of salinization and affected area (mha)
Percent
Light Moderate Strong Extreme Total
Africa 4.7 7.7 2.4 –14.8 19.3
Asia 26.8 8.5 17.0 0.4 52.7 68.8
South America 1.8 0.3 –– 2.1 2.7
North & central America 0.3 1.5 0.5 –2.3 3.0
Europe 1.0 2.3 0.5 –3.8 5.0
Australia –0.5 –0.4 0.9 1.2
World total 34.6 20.8 20.4 0.8 76.6 100
3 An Overview of Salinity Problem 47

USSR, Syria, Turkey, and the United States. In Gulf States (Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi
Arabia, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates), saline soils mainly occur in
coastal lands (due to seawater intrusion), and also on agricultural farms irrigated with
saline/brackish water.
Secondary salinization (i.e., soil salinization due to human activities such as
irrigated agriculture) is predominantly located in the arid and semi-arid regions
including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, India, China, Chile, Argentina, Commonwealth of
Independent States, Spain, Thailand, Pakistan, Syria, Turkey, Algeria, Tunisia,
Sudan and the Gulf States. About 76.6 million hectares (Table 2.2) of cultivated
lands are salt-affected by human-induced processes (Oldeman et al. 1991; Mashali
1995; Ghassemi et al. 1995) and approximately 30 million ha can be attributed to
secondary salinization of non-irrigated lands. However, according to Ghassemi et al.
(1995), globally 20% or 45 million hectares out of a total 227 million hectares of
irrigated land are salt-affected (Table 2.3).
4 Distribution of Salinity in Drylands in Different
Continents of the World
As reported by UNEP (1992), the distribution of salt-affected soils in drylands in
different continents is presented in Table 2.4. These soils are divided into two
categories: saline (412 million hectares) and sodic (618 million hectares), totaling
1030 million hectares. Australasia has the widest distribution with 357.6 million
hectares, followed by Africa with 209.6 million hectares.
Table 2.3 Global estimates of secondary salinization in the world’s irrigated lands. (Summarized
from Ghassemi et al. 1995; Mashali 1995)
Country
Area (mha)
Cropped Irrigated Salt-affected
a
China 97.0 44.8 6.7 (15)
India 169.0 42.1 7.0 (17)
Commonwealth of independent states 232.5 20.5 3.7 (18)
United States of America 190.0 18.1 4.2 (23)
Pakistan 20.8 16.1 4.2 (26)
Iran 14.8 5.8 1.7 (29)
Thailand 20.0 4.0 0.4 (10)
Egypt 2.7 2.7 0.9 (33)
Australia 47.1 1.8 0.2 (11)
Argentina 35.8 1.7 0.6 (35)
South Africa 13.2 1.1 0.1 (9)
Subtotal 842.9 158.7 29.7 (19)
World (Total) 1474 227 45 (20)
a
Salt-affected soils within the irrigated area; values in parentheses are percentage
48 2 Soil Salinity: Historical Perspectives and a World Overview of the Problem

5 Irrigation Practices and Soil Salinization
The practice of irrigation, if not planned and managed properly, can result in
increased soil salinization. An estimate (Postel 1989) shows that about 25% of the
world’s irrigated lands are damaged by salinity, while Adams and Hughes (1990)
have reported that up to 50% of irrigated lands are affected by salt. Szabolcs (1989)
states that no continent is free from salt-affected soils and serious salt-related
problems occur in at least 70 countries. Table 2.5 shows the area of irrigated land
damaged by salinization for the five worst-affected countries (Postel 1989).
6 Regional Overview of Salinity Problem
More recent estimates of the regional distribution of saline soils do not exist. There is
a need to update this information in order to better understand the extent of the
problem and to develop soil use and management policies. Such estimates are
essential given the continuing decline of soil resources for food production. An
earlier search of the literature (Mashali 1995; FAO-Unesco Soil map of the world
Table 2.4 Salt-affected soils in drylands by continents (UNEP 1992; cf FAO-ITPS-GSP 2015)
Continent
Salt-affected area (mha)
Saline soils Sodic soils Total
Africa 122.9 86.7 209.6
Australasia 17.6 340.0 357.6
Mexico/Central America 2.0 –2.0
North America 6.2 9.6 15.8
North and Central Asia 91.5 120.2 211.7
South America 69.5 59.8 129.3
South Asia 82.3 1.8 84.1
Southeast Asia 20.0 –20.0
Total 412.0 618.1 1030.1
Table 2.5 Soil salinity
caused by irrigation in major
irrigating countries and in the
world (Postel 1989)
Country
Area damaged
mha % of irrigated land
India 20.0 36.0
China 7.0 15.0
United States of America 5.2 27.0
Pakistan 3.2 20.0
Soviet Union 2.5 12.0
Total 37.9 24.0
World 60.2 24.0
6 Regional Overview of Salinity Problem 49

1974) does, however, give an estimate of the extent of the regional distribution of
salt-affected soils (Table 2.6). These estimates show the total extent to be 932 million
hectares of salt-affected lands, with the maximum area occurring in the region of
Australasia (357 million ha).
7 Extent of Soil Salinity in the Middle East
Information regarding the extent of salinization in the Middle East is very limited.
However, some general information has been obtained through the use of Remote
Sensing imagery and other methods. This information was used to develop a soil
salinization map of the Middle East (Hussein 2001; Shahid et al. 2010). In this map,
salinization was divided into four general categories: slight, moderate, severe and
very severe, as shown in Table 2.7. Earlier, an estimated area of 209,000 hectares has
been reported as being salinized in Kuwait (Hamdallah 1997), which is roughly 3%
of the total Kuwait land area.
Table 2.7 shows an area of 11.2% of the Middle East being affected to varying
levels by soil salinization. Realizing the soil salinity, a hazard to agriculture and to
the ecosystem services, Shahid et al. (1998) described soil salinization as early
warning of land degradation in Kuwait. Later, Shahid et al. (2002) interpreted the
soil survey data (KISR 1999) using GIS and mapped soil salinity into different
salinity zones, where area occupied by each zone is as: 4.1 –10 dS m
1
(0.685%),
10.1 –25.0 dS m
1
(4.37%), and more than 25 dS m
1
(7.06%). This concludes an
area of about 12.1% affected to varying degrees of salinity in the entire state of
Kuwait. In the Abu Dhabi Emirate (EAD 2009), an area of 35.5% (2,034,000 ha) has
been depicted to be affected to varying degrees of soil salinity. The highly saline
soils on the soil salinity map are confined to the coastal land (King et al. 2013), the
areas of deflation plains, and inland sabkha (salt scald) where the groundwater levels
approach the surface, creating large areas of aquisalids at the great group level of US
soil taxonomy (Soil Survey Staff 2014; Shahid et al. 2014).
Table 2.6 Regional distribution of salt-affected soils (mha). (cf.Mashali 1995)
Region Solonchak –saline phase Solonetz –sodic phase Total
North America 6 10 16
Mexico and Central America 2 –2
South America 69 60 129
Africa 54 27 81
South and West Asia 83 2 85
South East Asia 20 –20
North and Central Asia 92 120 212
Australasia 17 340 357
Europe 9 21 30
Total 352 580 932
50 2 Soil Salinity: Historical Perspectives and a World Overview of the Problem

8 Socioeconomic Aspects of Soil Salinization
A comprehensive review of published literature revealed very few publications
dealing with socioeconomic aspects of salt-induced land degradation. On the global
level, generation of such information requires appreciable resources and the com-
mitment of properly trained staff to the project. However, Qadir et al. (2014)
conclude that previous studies show a limited number of highly variable estimates
of the costs of salt-induced land degradation. Even so, they have made simple
extrapolations from these studies and the estimates show that the global annual
cost of salt-induced land degradation in irrigated areas could be US$ 27.3 billion in
lost crop production. Based on these estimates, Qadir et al. (2014) recommended
investing in the remediation of salt-affected lands and noted that remediation costs
must be included in a broader national strategy for food security, and defined in
national action plans.
Qadir et al. (2014) identified countries where such economic cost on salt-induced
soil degradation has been reported, including but not necessarily limited to Australia,
India, the United States, Iraq, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Spain. They
further indicated that the valuation of the cost of salt-induced land degradation has
been mainly based on estimates of crop production losses. However, it is unclear
whether their comparisons are made with crop production values taken from land not
affected by salinity.
Taking the above examples into account, Qadir et al. (2014) have concluded that,
considering the current extent of global irrigated area 310 million hectares
(FAO-AQUASTAT 2013) and 20% of this area as salt-affected (62 million hect-
ares), and the inflation-adjusted cost of salt-induced land degradation in 2013 as US$
441 per hectare, a simple benefit transfer suggests the current annual economic
losses could be US$ 27.3 billion.
References
Abrol IP, Yadav JSP, Massoud FI (1988) Salt-affected soils and their management. FAO Soils
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Adams WM, Hughes FMR (1990) Irrigation development in desert environments. In: Goudi AS
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Armillas P (1961) Land use in pre-Columbian America. In: Stamp LD (ed) A history of land use in
arid regions, vol 17. UNESCO Arid Zone Research, Paris, pp 255–276
Table 2.7 Salinization
classes and affected area in the
Middle East (Hussein 2001;
Shahid et al. 2010)
Class Area km
2
Area %
Slight 113,814 1.72
Moderate 109,148 1.65
Severe 380,025 5.74
Very severe 138,204 2.09
Total 741,191 11.2
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