Biodiversity loss:: 86% of agriculture species at risk of extinction – Report

The global food system is said to be the primary driver of biodiversity loss, with agriculture alone being the identified threat to 86% which translate to 24,000 of the 28,000 species at risk of extinction.

The Chatham House report released recently, according to the Blueprint, states that the current global rate of species extinction is higher than the average rate over the past 10 million years.

The report, supported by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Compassion in World Farming explained that the food systems in the last decades have been following the “cheaper food paradigm”, with a goal of producing more food at lower costs through increasing inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, energy, land and water.

“This paradigm leads to a vicious circle: the lower cost of food production creates a bigger demand for food that must also be produced at a lower cost through more intensification and further land clearance.

“The impacts of producing more food at a lower cost are not limited to biodiversity loss,”it states.

It noted that the global food system is a major driver of climate change, accounting for around 30% of total human-produced emissions.

While stressing a need for urgent reform of food systems, which should focus on three interdependent actions, it said the globaI dietary patterns need to first move towards more plant-heavy diets, mainly due to the disproportionate impact of animal agriculture on biodiversity, land use and the environment.