Agricultural areas provide important habitats for many wild plants and animals.
When agricultural operations are sustainably managed, they can help preserve and restore critical habitats, protect watersheds, and improve soil health and water quality.
But when practiced without care, agriculture presents the greatest threat to species and ecosystems. Indeed, many of WWF's priority
places and
species are negatively impacted by agriculture.
Land conversion & habitat loss
The main impact from agriculture comes from
clearing natural habitats for farming land – especially land for intensive monoculture.
Recent examples include the loss of lowland rainforests in Indonesia to oil palm plantations, and the clearing of large areas of the Amazon rainforest and Brazilian savannah for soybean and cattle production.
On top of habitat loss due to clearing, unsustainable agricultural practices are seeing 12 million hectares of land lost each year to desertification.
Wasteful water consumption
Globally, the agricultural sector
consumes about 70% of the planet's fresh water – more than twice that of industry (23%), and dwarfing municipal use (8%). Between 15–35% of this water use is estimated to be unsustainable
3.
Excessive water use is leaving rivers, lakes and underground water sources dry in many irrigated areas. Excessive irrigation can also lead to increased soil salinity and degraded water quality.