|
|
|
As the world’s population grows there will be greater demand for food, timber, fresh water, fuel and clothes. Agriculture and forestry will need to cater to these increasing demands but at the same not exacerbate it’s environmental impact.
|
|
|
Food production and consumption
Farming, fishing and forestry
Farming, fishing and forestry have a significant environmental impact in New Zealand and throughout the world.
Agriculture contributes to climate change, habitat loss and pollution.
Some specific impacts are:
Water quality: Pollution and contamination caused by the runoff of agrochemicals (pesticides and chemical fertilisers) and effluent into waterways
Soil degradation: nutrient depletion, soil pollution and erosion (in the past 40 years nearly a third of the world’s arable land has been abandoned because of erosion!)
Greenhouse gas emissions: fossil fuel consumption in machinery and transport, fertiliser production, livestock flatulence (this is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand)
Deforestation: change in land-use to arable land affects biodiversity and the world’s carbon storage
Genetic engineering: the impacts (and benefits) of genetic engineering are not fully understood but there is a large body of opinion that it is negative and the positives are negligible
Waste: runoff of wastewater and mineral-rich effluent
The paradox is that while agriculture and food production affect climate and soil/water conditions – it is also affected by them. A warmer climate may actually increase the amount of arable land in some regions although it will decrease it in other regions. The loss of arable land is likely to occur in equatorial regions – where the majority of the world’s poor will become even poorer.
As the world’s population grows there will be greater demand for food, timber, fresh water, fuel and clothes. Agriculture and forestry will need to cater to these increasing demands but at the same not exacerbate it’s environmental impact.
|
|
|
|