In recent years, food production has continued to increase to meet growing demand. As the population is expected to grow until mid-century, and as the wealth of the population is expected to improve, the demand for food is expected to increase further in the coming decades. However, this increase in agricultural productivity will be accompanied by an increase in environmental degradation. Agriculture is responsible for ecosystem conversion and deforestation in tropical rainforests, leading to biodiversity loss, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and depleting ecosystem services. Seventy per cent of the world’s freshwater is used for irrigation, with serious implications for freshwater availability. In addition, agriculture is responsible for thirty per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it a major contributor to climate change.
Environmental pressures of increased food production
In recent years, food production has continued to increase to meet growing demand. As the population is expected to grow until mid-century, and as the wealth of the population is expected to improve, the demand for food is expected to increase further in the coming decades. However, this increase in agricultural productivity will be accompanied by an increase in environmental degradation. Agriculture is responsible for ecosystem conversion and deforestation in tropical rainforests, leading to biodiversity loss, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and depleting ecosystem services. Seventy per cent of the world’s freshwater is used for irrigation, with serious implications for freshwater availability. In addition, agriculture is responsible for thirty per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it a major contributor to climate change.
- Land, Food & Agriculture
- Agricultural Productivity Increase
- Intensification of Agriculture
None
Environmental pressures of increased food production
Between 1990 and 2008, Ecuador’s agricultural frontier expanded by 19,000 square kilometres at the expense of native forest cover. The associated loss and degradation of native forest has led to a decline in biodiversity, with more than sixty per cent of endemic plant species threatened. Population growth and the associated need for income and food have been cited as one of the causes of this development.
- Cascading (far-reaching effects following each other)
Solutions
Increasing production on existing agricultural lands to improve yields, shifting to healthier and less animal-based diets, reducing food waste.
Viteri-Salazar, O. & Toledo, L. (2020). The expansion of the agricultural frontier in the northern Amazon region of Ecuador, 2000–2011: Process, causes, and impact. Land Use Policy, 99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2020.104986.
Foley, J. A., Ramankutty, N., Brauman, K. A., Cassidy, E. S., Gerber, J. S., Johnston, M., … & Zaks, D. P. (2011). Solutions for a cultivated planet. Nature, 478(7369), 337-342. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10452
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