The Environmental Food Crisis

Grassland

Forest

is habitat loss, with over 2,000 (40%) species be- ing negatively impacted (IUCN, 2008). Globally, over 4,000 of the assessed plant and animal spe- cies are threatened by agricultural intensification (IUCN, 2008). With continuing agricultural ex- pansion, this number has increased to over 4,600 species, and is still rising. The IUCN Global Red List (IUCN, 2008) includes 457 of the globally assessed plants and animals that are threatened by agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa. Of these, 65 are critically endangered and 182 endangered. Similarly, 683 species are threatened by agricul- ture in Latin America, of which 146 are critically endangered and 244 endangered. Globally, over 1,000 (87%) of a total of 1,226 threat- ened bird species are impacted by agriculture. More than 70 species are affected by agricultural pollution, 27 of them seriously. Europe’s farmland birds have declined by 48% in the past 26 years (European Bird Census Council, 2008). Pesticides and herbicides pose a threat to 37 threatened bird species globally (BirdLife, 2008), in addition to deleterious effects of agricultural chemicals on ground water (Bexfield, 2008). Domesticated species diversity is also under threat. Worldwide, 6,500 breeds of domesticated mammals and birds are under immediate threat of extinction, reducing the genetic diversity for options in a changing environment (Diaz et al ., 2007; MA, 2005). With the loss of biodiversity in both natural and agricultural systems comes the loss of other eco- system services. In addition to food, fibre and wa- ter provisioning, regulating services such as air, water and climate regulation, water purification, pollination and pest control, as well as providing resilience against natural hazards and disasters and environmental change, are among the nu- merous examples of ecosystem services being lost under increasing intensification and expan- sion of agriculture.

100%

pristine forest

original species

selective logging

extensive use

secondary vegetation

burning

Abundance of original species

plantation

subsistence agriculture

land degradation

intensive agriculture

0%

Figure 25: A photographic impression of the gradual changes in two eco- system types (landscape level) from highly natural ecosystems (90–100% mean abundance of the original species) to highly cultivated or deteriorated ecosystems (around 10% mean abundance of the original species). Locally, this indicator can be perceived as a measure of naturalness, or conversely, of human-impact. (Source: CBD, 2008; Alkemade et al ., 2009).

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