planet on a plate
Agriculture also accounts for 93 per cent of
all depletion – drawing water unsustainably Desertification
from underground aquifers, for example. The world’s topsoil is its lifeblood and
without it almost nothing will grow, yet it is
Water constitutes 60 to 70 per cent of the disappearing or degrading almost
body weight of most animals and a cow will everywhere animals are farmed. Grazing and
drink up to 127 litres a day, a pig 46.7 litres denaturing due to the excessive use of
and 100 chickens up to 62 litres. The water pesticides and fertilisers for fodder crops are
used for cleaning, processing and largely responsible.
slaughtering chickens can amount to 15 litres
per kilo – more than 60 litres per bird. Forty per cent of all agricultural land has
been degraded in the last century because of
The University of California studied water use compaction by the hard hooves and heavy
in their state, where most agricultural land is bodies of animals along with nutrient
irrigated, and said it takes between 20 to 30 depletion and pollution.
gallons of water to produce one edible
pound of vegetables such as tomatoes, The UN FAO maintains that about 20 per
potatoes and carrots, yet takes 441 gallons of cent of pastures and rangelands are
water to produce a pound of beef. degraded in the more fertile areas of the
world but in the arid and semi-arid lands,
It is coincidence that in return for loans, the which girdle one third of the Earth, the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) requires figure is as high as 73 per cent.
poor countries to privatise resources – selling
them to the highest bidder. This, of course, Former rainforest land is particularly prone
includes water and the buyers are invariably to deterioration as the soil is comparatively
multinational agribusinesses involved in thin and cattle and other grazing animals
livestock production – ensuring their raw make short work of breaking down the
materials for future expansion. soil’s structure.
Once felled, forests no longer soak up heavy
rainfall which instead floods off the land
carrying topsoil with it. When this silt reaches
the ocean it can smother much of the life there.
Loss of evaporation through the trees’ leaves
eventually reduces water vapour in the
atmosphere and prompts a drying of the
climate to such a degree that rainfall can
virtually cease. The end result of these different
factors is desert. Those responsible generally
move on and repeat the process elsewhere.
When drought strikes and crops fail, as in the
appalling Ethiopian famines of the early 1980s,
there is enormous sympathy in the affluent
world. Few are aware – or are made aware –
that their dietary practices play a part.
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