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World farm-gate greenhouse gas emissions by activity. Soil degradation is the decline in soil quality that can be a result of many factors, especially from agriculture. Soils hold the majority of the world's biodiversity, and healthy soils are essential for food production and adequate water supply. [53]
Increased erosion in agricultural landscapes from anthropogenic factors can occur with losses of up to 22% of soil carbon in 50 years. [99] Climate change will also cause soils to warm. In turn, this could cause the soil microbe population size to dramatically increase 40–150%. Warmer conditions would favour growth of certain bacteria species ...
Animal agriculture, in particular meat production, can cause pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, disease, and significant consumption of land, food, and water. Meat is obtained through a variety of methods, including organic farming , free-range farming , intensive livestock production , and subsistence agriculture .
Land degradation reduces agricultural productivity, leads to biodiversity loss, and can reduce food security as well as water security. [3] [1] It was estimated in 2007 that up to 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded, [4] with the United Nations estimating that the global economy could lose $23 trillion by 2050 through ...
Agriculture contributes greatly to soil erosion and sediment deposition through intensive management or inefficient land cover. [32] It is estimated that agricultural land degradation is leading to an irreversible decline in fertility on about 6 million ha of fertile land each year. [33]
This global decline is dominated by negative impacts in already warm countries, since agriculture in cooler countries is expected to benefit from warming. [27] However, this does not include the impact of changes in water availability, which can be far more important than the warming, whether for pasture species like alfalfa and tall fescue ...
In 2010, enteric fermentation accounted for 43% of the total greenhouse gas emissions from all agricultural activity in the world. [36] The meat from ruminants has a higher carbon equivalent footprint than other meats or vegetarian sources of protein based on a global meta-analysis of lifecycle assessment studies. [ 37 ]
Earthquakes may have contributed to decline of several sites by direct shaking damage or by changes in sea level or in water supply. [28] [29] [30] More generally, recent research pointed to climate change as a key player in the decline and fall of historical societies in China, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas.