Farming Casts Longer Shadow Over Environment

By Bangkok Post, Thailand

Mar. 3–A recent report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation asserts that agriculture poses an increasing threat to the global environment.

When emissions from land use and land use change are included, the livestock sector accounts for 9 percent of carbon dioxide (CO2) deriving from human-related activities, but produces a much larger share of even more harmful greenhouse gases. It generates 65 percent of human-related nitrous oxide, which has 296 times the global warming potential (GWP) of CO2. Most of this comes from manure.

The livestock sector accounts for 37 percent of all human-induced methane (23 times the GWP as CO2), which is largely produced by the digestive systems of ruminants, and 64 percent of ammonia, which contributes to acid rain.

Livestock now use 30 percent of the earth’s land surface, mostly permanent pasture, as well as 33 percent of the global arable land used to produce feed for livestock, the report notes.

At the same time, herds cause wide-scale land degradation, with about 20 percent of pastures considered degraded through overgrazing, compaction and erosion. This figure is even higher in drylands where poor management and inadequate livestock management contribute to desertification.

The FAO says the livestock business is among the most damaging sectors to increasingly scarce water resources, contributing to water pollution, euthropication and the degeneration of coral reefs.

The major polluting agents are animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilisers and the pesticides used to spray feed crops. Widespread overgrazing disturbs water cycles, reducing replenishment of above and below ground water resources. Significant amounts of water are withdrawn for the production of feed.

Livestock are also said to be the main inland source of phosphorous and nitrogen contamination of the South China Sea, contributing to biodiversity loss in marine ecosystems.

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