The global food supply under the "serious threat" of biodiversity loss | Global development

According to the first United Nations study on plants, animals and micro-organisms that help to prepare meals around the world, the world's ability to produce food is undermined by humanity's inability to protect biodiversity .

The Food and Agriculture Commission issued a severe warning after scientists discovered that the natural support systems that underpinned human nutrition were deteriorating around the world as farms, cities and the factories swallowed up their land and released chemicals.

Over the past two decades, about 20% of the Earth's vegetated surface has become less productive, the report released on Friday said.

He noted a "debilitating" loss of biodiversity from soils, forests, grbadlands, coral reefs, mangroves, seagrbades and genetic diversity of species of crops and animals. 39; breeding. In the oceans, one third of the fishing areas are overexploited.

Many species indirectly involved in food production, such as birds eating pests and mangrove trees contributing to water purification, are less abundant than in the past, noted the study, which brought together global data, academic work and government reports. from 91 countries.

He found that 63% of the plants, 11% of the birds and 5% of the fish and mushrooms were in decline. Pollinators, which provide essential services to three-quarters of the world's crops, are under threat. In addition to the well-documented decline of bees and other insects, the report noted that 17% of vertebrate pollinators, such as bats and birds, were threatened with extinction.

Once lost, the species essential to our food systems can no longer be recovered, he said. "This puts the future of our diet and the environment under a grave threat."

"The fundamentals of our food systems are being undermined," wrote Graziano da Silva, chief executive of the Food and Agriculture Organization, in an introduction to the Food and Agriculture Organization. # 39; study. "Some parts of the global report make a dark reading. It is deeply worrying that in many production systems in many countries, the biodiversity for food and agriculture and the ecosystem services that it provides are declining. "

Agriculture was often to blame, he said, because of land-use changes and unsustainable management practices, such as over-exploitation of the soil and the use of pesticides, herbicides and other agrochemicals.

Most countries reported that the main factor of biodiversity loss was land conversion, with forests being cut for fields and grbadlands covered with concrete for cities, factories and roads. Other causes include overuse of water resources, pollution, overexploitation, spread of invasive species and climate change.

The trend is to uniformity. Although the world produces more food than in the past, it relies on growing monocultures.

Two-thirds of agricultural production comes from only nine species (sugar cane, maize, rice, wheat, potatoes, soybeans, oil palm fruits, sugar beet and cbadava ), while most of the 6,000 crop species are declining and wild. food sources are increasingly difficult to find.

Although consumers have not yet noticed any impact on their purchases, the report's authors stated that this could change.

"Supermarkets are full of food, but these are mainly imports from other countries and there are not many varieties. Dependence on a small number of species means that they are more susceptible to epidemics and climate change. This makes food production less resilient, "said Julie Bélanger, the report's coordinator.

For example, the report noted how over-dependence on a narrow range of species was an important factor in the famine caused by late blight in Ireland in the 1840s, cereals in the United States in the twentieth century and losses of taro production in Samoa in the 1990s.

"There is an urgent need to change the way food is produced and to ensure that biodiversity is not swept aside, but treated as an irreplaceable resource and a key element of management strategies," said Bélanger.

What is a megafarm?

In the United Kingdom, there is no legal definition of a mega-farm, but in the United States concentrated feed farms (CAFOs) include 125 000 broilers, 82 000 laying hens, 2500 pigs , 700 dairy cows and 1,000 beef cattle. They are the largest intensive farms in the United Kingdom requiring permits if they house more than 40,000 chickens, 2,000 pigs or 750 breeding sows. There are currently 789 mega farms in the UK and the number of intensive farms has increased by more than a quarter in six years, from 1,332 in 2011 to 1,674 last year.

Why are they controversial?

Mega-farms and intensive livestock are controversial as they require keeping tens of thousands of animals in a small space, which, according to activists and independent experts, can hinder their ability to express natural behaviors, such as nesting. Animals are often kept indoors throughout their life, although in some farms they have the right to access outside areas at least part of the time. It is also feared that animals from large farms will be over-treated with drugs, because if a patient becomes ill, it is usually necessary to treat the whole herd.

Why do some people think they need it?

Mega-farms and intensive farms occupy much less space than traditional farms and allow animals to be kept safe, away from predators and potential carriers of diseases, such as badgers. Their conditions are rigorously controlled, allowing farmers to monitor the amount of daylight, water and food for the animals. If the disease develops, livestock can be treated quickly. They are much cheaper to exploit than traditional farms.

The report showed that attitudes and practices were evolving slowly. In recent years, sustainable forest management, ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries, aquaponics and polyculture have been more widely used. But the authors said progress was insufficient. Organic farming, for example, now covers 58 million hectares worldwide, but this represents only 1% of the world's agricultural land.

The report pointed to increased government interest in biodiversity, a topic that rarely receives the same attention as climate change. Many states have reported economic losses caused by endangered or changing ecosystems. Ireland, Norway, Poland and Switzerland noted a decrease in the bumble bee population. Egypt feared that its fishing sector would suffer because fish migrated north due to rising ocean temperatures. The Gambia said communities were forced to buy expensive industrial products because sources of free wild food were becoming scarce.

The biodiversity crisis should be a global priority, with discussions on this topic at the next G7 in April, the World Conservation Congress in June, and a major UN conference in Beijing. ;next year.

"Around the world, the library of life that has evolved over billions of years – our biodiversity – is being destroyed, poisoned, polluted, invaded, fragmented, looted, drained and burned down. at a pace never seen in human history, "said Irish President Michael Higgins, said at a conference on biodiversity in Dublin Thursday. "If we were coal miners, we would be up in dead canaries."