Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture. At the current rate of population growth, that percentage will continue to rise unless major changes are made to our food system.
What we eat and how we choose to produce it has global impacts. Yet thus far, the expansion of agriculture has been one of humanity’s largest impacts on the environment. It has transformed habitats and is one of the greatest pressures for biodiversity: of the 28,000 species evaluated to be threatened with extinction on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, agriculture is listed as a threat for 24,000 of them.
A major contributor to land use change is the clearing of forests and natural spaces to accommodate growing numbers of livestock. To quantify it, land used to grow crops that feed livestock combined with the grazing area on which the livestock live encompasses 27% of the habitable land on Earth.
Good News?
Technological advancements and improved farming practices have led to crop yields that have increased significantly in recent decades. Meaning we have spared a lot of land from agricultural production. To put it into perspective, globally, to produce the same amount of crops as in 1961, we need only 30% of the farmland.
Yet in combating the widespread land use change of our planet, consumer behaviour will ultimately be the driving force behind any transformation to our food system.
Comentarios