Published on Tuesday, May 28, 2013 by Common Dreams
UN: Accelerating Biodiversity Loss a 'Fundamental Threat' to the 'Survival of Humankind'
'We must combat agri-food corporations' phenomenal economic and political power,' says author
The accelerating loss of biodiversity poses a "fundamental
threat" to the "survival of humankind," warned the head of the United
Nations new biodiversity body, as he also sounded the alarm on the
declining biodiversity on farms.
"We are hurtling towards irreversible environmental tipping points that, once passed, would reduce the ability of ecosystems to provide essential goods and services to humankind,” Zakri Abdul Hamid of IPBES warned on Monday. (Photo: Peter Blanchard/cc/flickr) Zakri Abdul Hamid, founding chair of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), made the comments at the 7th Trondheim Conference in Norway on Monday.
On the widely noted declining plant and animal biodiversity in the wild, Zakri said “we are hurtling towards irreversible environmental tipping points that, once passed, would reduce the ability of ecosystems to provide essential goods and services to humankind.”
But biodiversity loss is hitting farms also, said Zakri, threatening the world's food supplies, both in terms of livestock as well as crops.
“The good news is the rate of decline is dropping but the latest data classify 22% of domesticated breeds at risk of extinction.”
Zakri cites incentives for more uniform breeds from industrialized countries as a contributing factor in the decline of livestock diversity.
“Those genetics are irreplaceable. Once they’re gone they’re gone,” Jeannette Beranger, research and technical programs manager at the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, said.
Crops have suffered a loss of 75 percent of genetic diversity in the last century as locally-adapted varieties were abandoned in favor of genetically uniform varieties.
In
the heirloom orchard at Seed Savers Exchange, where they have 550
varieties of pre-1900 apples. (Photo: Chiot's Run/cc/flickr)
Take apples, says John Torgrimson, executive director of Seed Savers Exchange, an organization that saves and shares heirloom seeds.
Nowadays, you'll generally find only about 10 varieties of apples in markets, he says, and some of those are related to each other.
And the ubiquitous red delicious of today looks "tremendously different" from the red delicious of 100 years ago, Torgrimson says.
Yet "at one time, we had 20,000 varieties of apples in the U.S." In 2000, we had about 4,000 varieties, but most of those were held in private orchards across the country; market forces are bringing only a handful of varieties to consumers, says Torgrimson.
"It's critical that they examine the central role that large-scale industrial agriculture and agri-food corporations have played in eroding our biodiversity and undermining ecosystems."
- Chrisopher CookFurther, noted Zakri, out of the 30,000 edible plant species only 30 crops account for 95% of human food energy, with the bulk coming from rice, wheat, maize, millet and sorghum.
We need genetic diversity, Zakri said, because it is key to providing "a large genetic pool that enables organisms to withstand and adapt to new conditions.”
Not to be overlooked in this declining farm biodiversity is the role of agribusiness, says Christopher Cook, journalist and author of Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis.
This "high-profile focus on recapturing biodiversity and repairing ecosystems" from the UN body is good, he says, but moving forward, "it's critical that they examine the central role that large-scale industrial agriculture and agri-food corporations have played in eroding our biodiversity and undermining ecosystems."
"In their relentless push for market control these corporations, Monsanto, Syngenta and others, often with help from governments, have monopolized and privatized our seed supply—and promoted monoculture farming that has destroyed soils and fed climate change and drought," says Cook. "Biodiversity and economic diversity are linked—to restore both, we must combat agri-food corporations' phenomenal economic and political power."
"We are hurtling towards irreversible environmental tipping points that, once passed, would reduce the ability of ecosystems to provide essential goods and services to humankind,” Zakri Abdul Hamid of IPBES warned on Monday. (Photo: Peter Blanchard/cc/flickr) Zakri Abdul Hamid, founding chair of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), made the comments at the 7th Trondheim Conference in Norway on Monday.
On the widely noted declining plant and animal biodiversity in the wild, Zakri said “we are hurtling towards irreversible environmental tipping points that, once passed, would reduce the ability of ecosystems to provide essential goods and services to humankind.”
But biodiversity loss is hitting farms also, said Zakri, threatening the world's food supplies, both in terms of livestock as well as crops.
“The good news is the rate of decline is dropping but the latest data classify 22% of domesticated breeds at risk of extinction.”
Zakri cites incentives for more uniform breeds from industrialized countries as a contributing factor in the decline of livestock diversity.
“Those genetics are irreplaceable. Once they’re gone they’re gone,” Jeannette Beranger, research and technical programs manager at the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, said.
Crops have suffered a loss of 75 percent of genetic diversity in the last century as locally-adapted varieties were abandoned in favor of genetically uniform varieties.
In
the heirloom orchard at Seed Savers Exchange, where they have 550
varieties of pre-1900 apples. (Photo: Chiot's Run/cc/flickr)Take apples, says John Torgrimson, executive director of Seed Savers Exchange, an organization that saves and shares heirloom seeds.
Nowadays, you'll generally find only about 10 varieties of apples in markets, he says, and some of those are related to each other.
And the ubiquitous red delicious of today looks "tremendously different" from the red delicious of 100 years ago, Torgrimson says.
Yet "at one time, we had 20,000 varieties of apples in the U.S." In 2000, we had about 4,000 varieties, but most of those were held in private orchards across the country; market forces are bringing only a handful of varieties to consumers, says Torgrimson.
"It's critical that they examine the central role that large-scale industrial agriculture and agri-food corporations have played in eroding our biodiversity and undermining ecosystems."
- Chrisopher CookFurther, noted Zakri, out of the 30,000 edible plant species only 30 crops account for 95% of human food energy, with the bulk coming from rice, wheat, maize, millet and sorghum.
We need genetic diversity, Zakri said, because it is key to providing "a large genetic pool that enables organisms to withstand and adapt to new conditions.”
Not to be overlooked in this declining farm biodiversity is the role of agribusiness, says Christopher Cook, journalist and author of Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis.
This "high-profile focus on recapturing biodiversity and repairing ecosystems" from the UN body is good, he says, but moving forward, "it's critical that they examine the central role that large-scale industrial agriculture and agri-food corporations have played in eroding our biodiversity and undermining ecosystems."
"In their relentless push for market control these corporations, Monsanto, Syngenta and others, often with help from governments, have monopolized and privatized our seed supply—and promoted monoculture farming that has destroyed soils and fed climate change and drought," says Cook. "Biodiversity and economic diversity are linked—to restore both, we must combat agri-food corporations' phenomenal economic and political power."
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