Environment     

Expansion of cropland fuels biodiversity loss

Xinhua, January 17, 2013

• Expansion of land being used for crops is one of the main reasons for the continuing loss of biodiversity and threatens to undermine attempts to meet international environmental goal, a reported backed by UN Environment Program (UNEP) said on Wednesday.

  The study released ahead of the first plenary meeting of the newly-created Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in Bonn, Germany next week details how land, which is often rich in biodiversity, is being converted or set aside for crops like rice and maize in some 128 tropical countries.

  "Countries which added the greatest area of new cropland were Nigeria, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Brazil," said the report released by UNEP in Nairobi.

  "Soybeans and maize are the crops which expanded most in absolute area. Other crops with large increases included rice, sorghum, oil palm, beans, sugar cane, cow peas, wheat and cassava, " it said.

  Kenya has borne the brunt of climate variability as evidenced by recurrent droughts, floods, biodiversity loss and a surge in tropical diseases.

  Officials of the ministry of environment regretted recently that poor early warning systems, inadequate adaptation infrastructure and technical capacity, have worsened Kenya's vulnerability to climate change impacts.

  The east African nation has taken bold moves to enhance adaptation to negative impacts of climate change through the development of comprehensive national climate change action plans.

  The study, conducted by researchers from UNEP's World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative analyzed data on crop distribution and expansion, assessed changes in area of main crops, and mapped overlaps between conservation priorities and cultivation potential.

  "They found that cropland in tropical countries expanded by around 48,000 square km per year from 1999 to 2008. Rice was the single crop grown over the largest area, especially in tropical forest habitats," the report said.

  The report, entitled Crop Expansion and Conservation Priorities in Tropical Countries, warned that such trends, if continued, could derail progress towards meeting the Aichi Biodiversity Targets - a set of 20, time-bound measurable targets aimed at halting global biodiversity loss by the middle of the century.

   

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