Our Food - A Curse for Wildlife

Agriculture, the largest industry in the world is one of the biggest threats to the environment. It may employ some 1.3 billion people and produce about $1.3 trillion worth of goods annually, but it also contributes to serious environmental, social and economic problems. These issues are discussed in a WWF book, 'World Agriculture and the Environment' by Dr Jason Clay, Vice President, Center for Conservation at WWF - US.

Agriculture uses more than 50% of the habitable area of the planet - including land not suitable for it. A forest area more than four times the size of Switzerland is destroyed each year on account of agriculture. Impacted are critical habitats such as wetlands, montane areas and savannahs; and the wildlife these support.

The colossal wastage of water is a serious concern. Agriculture wastes 60% or 1,500 trillion litres of the 2,500 trillion litres of water that it uses each year. Water resources are already being used close to or beyond their limit, particularly in the Arabian Peninsula, the Americas, China and India. The impacts of global warming are likely to further disrupt water supplies.

'Agriculture has had a larger environmental impact than any other human activity and, today, it threatens the very systems we need to meet our food and textile needs,' said Dr Clay. 'New kinds of agriculture can produce the food needed to feed an increasing population and still accommodate all the other life forms on the planet.'

The book warns that government subsidies currently encourage intensive monoculture farming practices, which use chemicals and heavy machinery harmful to the environment. In England, for example, this has led to a 77 per cent decrease in bird populations over the past 30 years.

The book recommends that governments - especially those of big consuming countries like China, Japan, the United States, and the EU - redirect funding from subsidies and market barriers that promote unfair competition towards the adoption of better management practices. These include government payments for environmental services that farmers provide, such as watershed protection, erosion prevention, clean water, and carbon sequestration.

The book further recommends that governments must work with farmers and the food industry to develop better management practices in order to increase efficiency and reduce damage to the environment. WWF and the World Bank are exploring financial incentives that encourage farmers and investors to adopt better management practices, for example ecolabels promoting environmentally-friendly products and offering a reduction in financial risks.