NamKhan Permaculture Eco Farm Permaculture Eco Farm and Education center in Luang Prabang Laos AGRICULTURE A CAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

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1 NamKhan Permaculture Eco Farm Permaculture Eco Farm and Education center in Luang Prabang Laos AGRICULTURE A CAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE Posted on February 28,2017 by Paul Agriculture heavily impacts by climate change but this is not a one-way process. The fact is that agriculture itself is one of the biggest sources of climate change and various types of pollution. Agriculture is not as responsible to the environment as it could be and this calls for changes. Importance and challenges in agriculture [caption id="attachment_340" align="alignnone" width="1024"]

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3 Agriculture gives us food and jobs[/caption] Agriculture is the single most important activity on our planet. It files the plates of billions of people and saves them from hunger. Around one fifth of the world s population is directly employed in agriculture. Agriculture gives and maintains lives of people. But the truth also is that agriculture is seriously harming our environment. The thing gets more serious when you think of all the requests agriculture has to fulfill. With rising global population, demand for food is ever growing. And not just any food. It is noted that the diets of people around the world are changing in favor of meat production. Meat production is particularly challenging because it consumes a lot of resources and it leaves significant environmental footprint. If the human population continues to grow at this pace, agriculture will soon have to double if not triple its production in order to feed everyone. And that can be a serious issue if you have in mind the amount of resources it already consumes. Like that is not enough, many are looking in the direction of agriculture when it comes to energy production. With growing pressure to find alternative sources of energy, agriculture is expected to deliver significant amount of bio fuels in the future. All of this put together are serious challenges for agriculture, especially when we have in mind the volume of resources it already employs. Resources in service of agriculture [caption id="attachment_567" align="alignnone" width="1024"]

4 Water is one of key resources in agriculture[/caption] Water supplies Agriculture is the greatest water consumer in the world. It soaks up about 70% of all drinkable water. Whole rivers and lakes have been dried in order to irrigate vast fields under crops. Also, due to increased use of pesticides and chemicals in agriculture, there are ever more cases of water being

5 contaminated and made undrinkable. Cultivated land Around 40% of entire land of our planet is cleared out so that agricultural activities can take place. Forest have been knocked down so that we could have space to grow all sorts of vegetables needed for feeding us. This on the other hand leads to increased numbers of cases of erosion which are directly harming both crops and human lives. Soil pollution, due to chemicals used, is also a growing issue that makes fields less productive than they could be. Greenhouse gas emissions One of the main causes of global warming and climate change are greenhouse gas emissions. And guess who is responsible for creation of the biggest amounts of greenhouse gas emissions? That is right. Its agriculture. Agriculture not only the source of the harmful emissions but it is also doing it way better than anyone else. Forty percent of all greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture. That is way more than any other industry. Urban areas and whole industries are not as intense producers of these emissions as agriculture is. Agriculture of the future where to go from here? [caption id="attachment_341" align="alignnone" width="660"] How to

6 evolve in food production[/caption] But have in mind the fact that agriculture is not the bad guy in this story. On the contrary, agriculture is trying to keep us all well fed, healthy and happy. Such a noble task has led to serious environmental issues. The question we have to ask ourselves is, now what? If we are aware of the bad effect agriculture is leaving on the environment, and of the necessity to keep the agriculture sound and running, we need to find new ways to do it. It is clear that we need to take a step back and rethink the whole concept of conventional farming. At the same time, we have to find ways to make sustainable farming (such as eco-farming and organic farming) more productive in order to protect the nature. Some experts are promoting a way of creating new type of agriculture. This new type should have benefits of growing sustainably, and the productivity of conventional farming. If we manage to reach out to that kind of compromise, we will be able to fix some of the problems agriculture made in the environment. Posted in:eco Farming,Educational Posts,Sustainability,Water Tagged:Agriculture,Climate,Climate Change,Emission,Greenhouse With 0 comments Green Tea Company Ltd. P.O. Box 106 Ban Donkeo Village, Luang Prabang, Laos 2016 Copyright namkhanproject.com