What if I told you that the land that agriculture farms themselves are contributors to environmental pollution? Shocking, is it? Unfortunately, this is the truth, especially for new farmlands.
Due to the ever-increasing human population, land use has started to face multiple competitors, with agriculture as one of them (Kanianska, 2016). Today, half of the habitable land on Earth is dedicated to agriculture and its related industry (Our World in Data, 2019). Furthermore, the increasing population also demands higher food production, both for direct intake and as feed for the livestock. Hence, new lands have to be cleared to make way for farmlands to meet these demands. One of the biggest victims usually ends up being the forested areas and woodlands.
Apart from the reduction of the regional carbon reuptake by these carbon sinks, these areas are usually cleared in a pollutive manner, which includes slash-and-burn. These land clearing and deforestation practices contribute high levels of CO2 into the atmosphere, polluting the air and contributing to climate change (IPCC, 2000). On top of this, we are more than familiar with the transboundary haze we experience in the region, especially in Singapore. Well, the culprits are largely farmers, especially palm oil plantations, clearing the forested lands which create particular matter such as soot, which then is carried by the winds from the source to the entire region (Koh, 2013).
So maybe it is only land-use change to agriculture purposes that cause air pollution. It is not so bad as it is one-off? However, even after the land-use change, agriculture lands do continue to be a source of pollution, but this time, of water resources. This is due to soil erosion and sediment deposition that is not protected with land cover, especially with the land-clearing practices. These sediments then accumulate in the runoff and water bodies, affecting water quality. You can learn more about it in the video below (Angling Trust, 2017).
So maybe it is time we reconsider how we classify what is pollutive and what are not as our green fields may not be that green after all?
Trailing off,
Jade and Ridzuan
References
Angling Trust (2017). Agricultural Pollution – The Destruction of Our Rivers. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRIysSpg2Zs [Accessed 1 Sep. 2020].
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2000). IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios. [online] Available at: https://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc/emission/076.htm [Accessed 1 Sep. 2020].
Kanianska, R. (2016). Agriculture and Its Impact on Land‐Use, Environment, and Ecosystem Services. Landscape Ecology – The Influences of Land Use and Anthropogenic Impacts of Landscape Creation. [online] Available at: https://www.intechopen.com/books/landscape-ecology-the-influences-of-land-use-and-anthropogenic-impacts-of-landscape-creation/agriculture-and-its-impact-on-land-use-environment-and-ecosystem-services [Accessed 1 Sep. 2020].
Koh, J. (2013). Haze pollution | Infopedia. [online] Nlb.gov.sg. Available at: https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_2013-08-30_185150.html [Accessed 1 Sep. 2020].
Our World in Data. (2019). Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture. [online] Available at: https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture [Accessed 1 Sep. 2020].
