Having
had a greater understanding of the effects of livestock farming on land cover,
I found it essential to investigate further into how animal agriculture is
negatively (and to an extent positively) impacting our ecosystems and
biodiversity as a whole.
For the
past millennia, humans have transformed ecosystem patterns across most of the
terrestrial biosphere. Through the process of deforestation, and other conversions
of natural habitats to land used for livestock farming, there has been a global
increase in biodiversity loss where systems rich in biodiversity are being
replaced with monocultures. The modification of natural habitats caused by
farming and agriculture represent a primary factor in growing risk of species
extinction (Steinfeld et al 2006). Natural habitats on arable land have
seen their numbers fall by more than 50% (Green et al, 2005), primarily for
the land to be used as permanent pasture. In 2013, and under the Red List
report, The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessed and
estimated that almost one third of all existing species in the world are under
threat of extinction (IUCN, 2013). Hooper et al (2012) in their global synthesis
report suggest that biodiversity loss is the number one factor driving
ecosystem change. Indeed, a 20-40% loss of intermediate species is accountable
for 5 to 10% reduction in plant production.
Source: Hooper et al, (2012) A global synthesis reveals biodiversity loss as a major driver of ecosystem change
Though literature on the future of
livestock farming adn biodiversity loss is relatively lacking, a recent study
published in the Science of Total
Environmental shows how an expanding global demand for meat will see levels
of biodiversity loss rise. By mapping and comparing both global biodiversity
hotspots and estimated meat production, Machovina et al (2015) found that the biggest conversion
of land-cover to agriculture are situated in 15 of the most mega diverse countries,
(countries with a great variety of species). Earlier in 2015, Ceballos et al (2015) concluded that the world was entering a sixth human-induced mass
extinction.
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