Report warns that 74% of agricultural land in the region may become unviable by 2060
07/18/2024
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Agriculture in jeopardy: large-scale monocultures, with intensive irrigation systems and excessive use of inputs, fertilizers, and pesticides — Foto: Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil
If the current agribusiness model is maintained in the future, with pressure on natural capital and producing major environmental impacts, the activity runs the risk of becoming unviable. Scenarios project that the viability of 74% of current agricultural land on the border between the Amazon and the Brazilian savanna (“Cerrado”) could be compromised by 2060.
This data is part of the executive summary of the “Thematic Report on Agriculture, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services” produced over three years and launched on Tuesday by a group of 100 researchers from several fields linked to 40 institutions in all Brazilian biomes.
“We want to highlight the importance of an integrated agenda between agriculture and conservation in Brazil, alerting people to the environmental liabilities generated by conventional farming,” said biologist Rachel Bardy Prado, one of the coordinators of the report and a researcher with the soil department of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) for 21 years.
Brazilian ecosystems are home to nearly 20% of the planet’s described species. The country is first in the ranking of the 17 most megadiverse nations in the world. On the other hand, agribusiness is responsible for 20% of formal jobs and 27% of the country’s GDP—or R$403.3 billion in 2020. “For the most part, it is marked by large-scale monocultures, with intensive irrigation systems and excessive use of inputs, fertilizers, and pesticides,” said the note to press.
The report mentions that crops dependent on pollinators account for 55% of the annual monetary value of national production. “This service is very important and has been compromised by pesticides, the fragmentation of the landscape, and the destruction of forests,” said Ms. Prado. “Pollination is one of the essential services, like clean water.”
“The conservation and production agendas are separate. Our proposal is for them to be shared”, she added. The biologist said what has been known for years in the country, but has not become a reality: “We have to stop seeing biodiversity as an obstacle to development. It’s the other way around. This is our great wealth, for different sectors of production and especially for agriculture.”
The summary of the report was produced by the Brazilian Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (Bpbes), an initiative launched in 2017 that brings together 120 university professors, researchers, environmental managers, and holders of traditional knowledge.
The summary indicates what is in the six chapters of the report: the first is about the benefits provided by nature, the second mentions the trajectory of land use. The third shows future scenarios, and the fourth practical solutions for managing agriculture and natural resources.
The fifth chapter discusses opportunities for greater social inclusion and income generation. The last is about governance, where the main successful examples of reconciling conservation and agriculture with international requirements have been consolidated.
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“We have to look at a multifunctional rural landscape. This means a landscape that can provide more than food, but all the ecosystem services essential to human well-being such as clean water, fertile soil, climate regulation, and pollination,” said the biologist.
*Por Daniela Chiaretti — São Paulo
Source: Valor International