{"id":54054,"date":"2019-11-14T18:59:46","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T13:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=54054"},"modified":"2020-02-26T14:18:29","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T08:48:29","slug":"7-pm-we-need-a-new-green-revolution-one-that-focuses-on-the-environment-14th-november-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-we-need-a-new-green-revolution-one-that-focuses-on-the-environment-14th-november-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM | We need a new Green Revolution \u2014 one that focuses on the environment | 14th November, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Context:\n<\/strong>Environmental\nimpacts of agriculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>More\nin news:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>&#8216;Climate strike&#8217;, a form of protest\npopularised by the Sweedish teenage activist Greta Thunburg, has been named Collins&#8217;\nWord of the Year 2019.<\/li><li>The recently held summit, \u2018The Future of\nProtein\u2019 aims to bring together the key stakeholders in business, innovation,\nscientific research and policy to transform how we make our food. This event is\nhosted jointly by the Good Food Institute India and Humane Society\nInternational\/ India.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Climate\nStrike:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Climate Strike has\nbeen formally defined as a form of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.collinsdictionary.com\/dictionary\/english\/protest\">protest<\/a>&nbsp;in\nwhich people&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.collinsdictionary.com\/dictionary\/english\/absent\">absent<\/a>&nbsp;themselves\nfrom&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.collinsdictionary.com\/dictionary\/english\/education\">education<\/a>&nbsp;or\nwork in order to join demonstrations demanding action to counter climate\nchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Environmental\nimpacts of Agriculture:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Freshwater:<\/strong><\/li><li>Freshwater\nis vital for farming as it drives both plant and animal production.&nbsp; Plant\nproduction depends on an adequate water supply, and animals require plants as a\nfood source.<\/li><li>While\nnearly 70 per cent of the world is covered by water, only 2.5 per cent is fresh\nwater. The rest is saline and ocean-based. Even then, just 1 per cent of our\nfreshwater is easily accessible, with much of it trapped in glaciers and\nsnowfields. <\/li><li>In\nessence, only 0.007 per cent of the planet\u2019s water is available to fuel and\nfeed its 6.8 billion people.<\/li><li>This\nmakes water a limited precious resource.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Pollution:<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"326\" height=\"177\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ind-1.jpg?resize=326%2C177&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-54055\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>In\norder to enhance agricultural production quantity and quality, several\nadditives to the soil are used in farming. The widely used are pesticides and\nfertilizers, which end up as pollutants in water run-off from the soil. This\nrun-off can adversely affect more people and animal wildlife.<\/li><li>Crop\nand livestock production have a profound effect on the wider environment. They\nare the main source of water pollution by nitrates, phosphates and pesticides. <\/li><li>They\nare also the major anthropogenic source of the greenhouse gases methane and\nnitrous oxide, and contribute on a massive scale to other types of air and\nwater pollution. The extent and methods of agriculture, forestry and fishing\nare the leading causes of loss of the world&#8217;s biodiversity.<\/li><li><strong>Soil\nDegradation:<\/strong><\/li><li>In all\necosystems, the biodiversity held in soil is massive. Healthy soils are vital\nto creating ample food production. <\/li><li>Although\nagriculture is not the sole cause of soil degradation, poor farming practices\nare known to cause a considerable decline in in the quality of soil. This\nmainly results from pesticide contamination, water logging and salting. Soil\nerosion leads to loss of soil fertility and structure.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Climate\nChange:<\/strong><\/li><li>Agriculture\nand climate change have a reciprocal relationship. Climate change affects\nagricultural production through precipitation levels and temperature\nvariations. In return, poor agricultural practices increase climate change. <\/li><li>The\nmost significant climate change associated with agriculture is brought about by\nmethane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide, all of which are greenhouse gases\nreleased into the Earth\u2019s atmosphere from farming. Pesticides and fertilizers\napplication affect the quality of air through production of compounds like\nphosphorus, nitrate and ammonia.<\/li><li><strong>Deforestation,\nanother factor in climate change:<\/strong><\/li><li>Across\nthe globe, cases of forests being cleared for agricultural reasons are on the\nrise with people seeking to increase their scales of agricultural production.\nDeforestation provides more land for crops and pasture. <\/li><li>Deforestation\nenhances the effects of climate change. Destruction of habitat amongst species\nalso leads to fragmentation and depletion. Extensive deforestation affects the\nwater cycle, which results in interferences with precipitation.<\/li><li><strong>Livestock\nfarming has a&nbsp;vast environmental footprint.<\/strong> <\/li><li>It\ncontributes to land and water degradation, biodiversity loss, acid rain, coral\nreef degeneration and deforestation.<\/li><li>Nowhere\nis this impact more apparent than climate change \u2013 livestock\nfarming&nbsp;contributes 18% of human produced greenhouse gas&nbsp;emissions\nworldwide. This is&nbsp;more than all emissions&nbsp;from ships, planes,\ntrucks, cars and all other transport put together.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How\nCan the Environmental Impacts of Agriculture be minimized?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The key to\nprotecting the environment against the harmful effects of extensive and unsafe\nagricultural practices is through sustainable practices. Sustainable farming\nincorporates both the conservation of available resources as well as employing\nfarming practices aimed at environmental protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Choosing\nless water intensive crops over water intensive cash crops:<\/strong><\/li><li>India\nproduces more than 120 million tons of rice a year with the government ensuring\npurchase with good MSP and incentives to grow the crop. On the flip side, paddy\nconsumes between 3,000 and 5,000 liters\u2019 of water to produce just 1 kg of rice.<\/li><li>On the\nother hand, crops like millets, lentils and pulses take half or less than half\nthe amount of water for the same output. These are also rich sources of protein\nwhich makes them a sustainable alternative to water-intensive farming.<\/li><li><strong>Focusing\non plant-based proteins:<\/strong> Plant based protein can be produced\nthrough climate and farmer friendly crops such as ragi, amaranth and millets.<\/li><li><strong>Adopting\nsustainable agricultural practices:<\/strong><\/li><li>Develop,\nfacilitate and reward multi-benefit farming systems that enable more productive\nand resilient livelihoods and ecosystems, with emphasis on closing yield gaps\nand improving nutrition.<\/li><li>Introduce\nstrategies for minimizing ecosystem degradation and rehabilitating degraded\nenvironments, with emphasis on community-designed programmes.<\/li><li><strong>Reduce\nPost-harvest losses:<\/strong><\/li><li>Post-harvest\nlosses of annual fruit and vegetable production in India are estimated at 20%\ndue to inadequate transit packaging and refrigeration.<\/li><li>Reducing\nsuch losses can minimize the impact on environment.<\/li><li><strong>Integrated\nPolicy formulation: <\/strong><\/li><li>The\nmultiple emergent challenges \u2013 food insecurity and under nutrition, climate\nchange, increasing competition for energy and water, degradation of land and\nbiodiversity are connected in complex ways and demand an integrated management\napproach. <\/li><li>Adaptive\nmanagement and governance to improve nutritional security, economic prosperity\nand environmental outcomes will require a much better global system for\nintegrating spatially explicit information about agriculture, ecosystem\nservices, markets and human populations in real time.<\/li><li><strong>Technological\nIntervention:<\/strong><\/li><li>Biotechnology\ncan play a major role in helping farmers overcome challenges such as protecting\ncrops against insects, weeds and disease, as well as battling vagaries of the\nweather.<\/li><li>Much\ncan be achieved without resorting to environmentally-harmful products and\nprocesses or over-reliance on irrigation, contributing to more sustainable\nfarming practices<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The need of the\nhour now is a new revolution \u2014 one that focuses on the environment, development\nand farmer welfare. With a focus on producing environmentally friendly crops,\nthe next revolution can ensure that farmers are motivated to move to crops that\nconsume less water, while ensuring their protection and a steady source of\nincome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source:\n<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/green-revolution-india-farmers-crops-climate-change-6118363\/\">https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/opinion\/columns\/green-revolution-india-farmers-crops-climate-change-6118363\/<\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: Environmental impacts of agriculture. More in news: &#8216;Climate strike&#8217;, a form of protest popularised by the Sweedish teenage activist Greta Thunburg, has been named Collins&#8217; Word of the Year 2019. The recently held summit, \u2018The Future of Protein\u2019 aims to bring together the key stakeholders in business, innovation, scientific research and policy to transform&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-we-need-a-new-green-revolution-one-that-focuses-on-the-environment-14th-november-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM | We need a new Green Revolution \u2014 one that focuses on the environment | 14th November, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-pm","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/7-PM.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}