One of the primary environmental concerns with modern agriculture has to do with the chemicals we put on crops and what happens when those crops end up in the watershed. Pesticides and other chemicals are often used to produce more crops, and these pesticides don't just fall on the crops and stay there: they are transported via wind and water and affect the surrounding ecosystems.
Fertilizers are also used in agriculture, and they also end up in the surrounding ecosystems. Fertilizers, while a nutrient for some plants, end up in streams and lakes in amounts higher than would occur naturally. The result may be eutrophication, an excessive amount of nutrients in a body of water resulting in a substantial growth of plants, such as algae, and a lack of oxygen in the water because of this increase in plants.
There is a finite amount of land on the planet, and agricultural practices take up a lot of land. Forests, grasslands, and other ecosystems are converted for farmland. When we clear land for agriculture, we often lose some soil.
The plant species originally on this land are gone, and what we replace those with may be plants that aren't as effective and retaining the soil and its nutrients. Thus, the soil degrades over time. To stress the interactions between society and the environment, the driving forces D , pressures P , states S , impacts I , and response R DPSIR framework approach was used for analyzing and assessing the influence of agriculture on land use, environment, and ecosystem services.
The DPSIR model was used to identify a series of core indicators and to establish the nature of interactions between different driving forces, pressures, states, impacts, and responses. We assessed selected indicators at global, national, and local levels. The driving forces exert pressure on the environment assessed by indicators describing development in fertilizer and pesticides consumption, by number of livestock, and by intensification joined growing release of ammonia and greenhouse gas GHG emissions from agriculture, and water abstraction.
The pressure reflects in the state of environment, mainly expressed by soil and water quality indicators. Negative changes in the state then have negative impacts on landscape, e.
As a response, technological, economic, policy, or legislation measures are adopted. Human population growth together with competitive land use causes land scarcity, conversion of wild lands to agriculture and other uses.
As we can see, the anthropogenic factor has an important impact on land use and land cover changes. Given this human influence, especially during the past years, the recent period has been called the Anthropocene Age [ 2 ]. Human influence on the land and other natural resources is accelerating because of rapid population growth and increasing food requirements.
The increasing agricultural intensity generates pressure not only on land resources but also across the whole environment. Comprehensive assessment of the agriculture is a challenging task. There are different possibilities and methods for such assessment.
To stress the interactions between society and the environment, the DPSIR framework approach is used for analyzing and assessing the influence of agriculture on land use and environment with emphasis on Slovakia.
DPSIR model for agriculture and environment. Within integrated environmental assessment a framework is used, which distinguish driving forces D , pressures P , states S , impacts I , and response R. Later it was elaborated by European Environment Agency [ 5 ]. Environmental indicators should reflect all elements of the chain between human activities, their environmental impacts, and the societal responses to these impacts [ 6 ].
The DPSIR model was used to identify a series of core indicators and to establish the nature of interactions between the different driving forces, pressures, states, impacts, and responses, and thus to assess the agriculture and its impact on land use, environment, and ecosystem services Figure 1.
More attention was paid to Slovakia. Slovakia is located in central Europe and covers an area of 49, km 2. It is largely located in the mountain territory of the western Carpathian arch. The climate is temperate. Despite the mountain character of the majority of the Slovak territory, there were suitable conditions for agricultural development.
With the growing world population the requirements are grown to cover the food demand. Agricultural ecosystems are interlinked with rural areas where more than 3 billion people live, almost half of the world's population.
Roughly 2. For many economies, especially those of developing countries, agriculture can be an important engine—driving force—of economic growth. But not only in the developing countries but also in the developed countries agriculture has always been the precursor to the rise of industry and services [ 8 ]. In the twentieth century, the world population grew four times [ 9 ]. Although demographic growth rates have been slowing since the late s, the world's population has doubled since then, to approximately 7 billion people currently and is projected to increase to over 9 billion by But already millions people are still suffering from hunger and malnutrition.
The latest available estimates indicate that about million people in the world just over one in nine were undernourished in — Since —, the number of undernourished people has declined by million globally, a reduction of The vast majority of the hungry people live in the developing regions. The overall hunger reduction trends in the developing countries since — are connected with changes in large populous countries China, India [ 10 ].
In the developing countries, this rural social class is, above all, often a victim of marginalization and exclusion from its governing classes political, economic, and financial as well as from the urban milieu where there is a concentration of power and knowledge, and therefore money, including funds for development.
Often the urban and rural worlds are separated. In past, Slovakia was typical agrarian country. Even during the nineteenth century the vast majority of the population worked in agriculture, but with the beginning of the twentieth century the decreasing trend began and continued to the present. In , In , 50, people worked in agriculture [ 12 ] which represented 2. The global land area is Globally, about 0. In , it was 0. The average amount of cropland and pasture land per capita in was 0.
Humans have altered land cover for centuries, but recent rates of change are higher than ever [ 16 ]. Highly variable ecosystem conditions driven by climatic variations amplify the pressure arising from high demands on land resources. Economic factors define a range of variables that have a direct impact on the decision making by land managers. Technology can affect labor market and operational processes on land. Demographic factors, such as increase and decrease of population, and migration patterns have a large impact on land use.
The development of the present ecosystems in the postglacial period Holocene depended on significant changes in climate.
Warming in the postglacial period, about 10, years ago, created conditions of back migration of individuals species from their refuges, where they were protected during the glacial periods.
After the neolitic revolution, human society began to influence more noticeably the development of natural ecosystems. Agriculture has expanded into forests, savannas, and steppes in all parts of the world to meet the demand for food and fiber. The central and north Europe were almost completely naturally covered by forests. Only high mountain and alpine rocky localities were without forest cover.
Nowadays Europe is a mosaic of landscapes, reflecting the evolutionary pattern of changes that land use has undergone in the past. The greatest concentration of farmland is found in Eastern Europe, where also Slovakia lies, with more than half of its land area in crop cover [ 18 ].
Europe is one of the most intensively used continents on the globe. Despite the long tradition of human impact investigation on the environment and vegetation in Europe, there are few comparable studies in North America. This difference is often attributed to the shorter duration of intensive human impact in most of North America versus Europe.
As a result, prior studies in the United States have generally been restricted to local investigations [ 19 ]. During the past three centuries, in many developing countries and countries with transition economies, growing demand for food due to an increasing population has caused substantial expansion of cropland, accompanied by shrinking primary forests and grassland areas [ 20 ].
Based on many studies, in China between and , cropland area increased and forest coverage decreased. Similarly in India, between and , cropland area has increased from 92 to But in the past 50 years, over world rapid urbanization has been evident [ 22 ]. Rapid economic growth is accompanied by a shift of land from agriculture to industry, infrastructure, road network, and residential use. Countries in East Asia, North America, and Europe have all lost cultivated land during their periods of economic development [ 18 ].
The dramatic growth and globalization of China's economy and market since economy reforms in have brought about a massive loss of croplands, most of which were converted to urban areas and transportation routes during — [ 24 ]. In , of the total area of Slovakia agricultural land covered The highest share of used agricultural land was represented by arable land Many of the techniques and modifications on which farmers rely to boost output also harm the environment.
Below are brief descriptions of three ways intensive agriculture threatens the precarious balance of nonagricultural ecosystems. Irrigation Worldwide, agriculture accounts for 70 percent of human freshwater consumption. A great deal of this water is redirected onto cropland through irrigation schemes of varying kinds. Experts predict that to keep a growing population fed, water extraction may increase an additional 15 percent or more by Irrigation supports the large harvest yields that such a large population demands.
Researchers and farmers alike are becoming increasingly aware of the consequences of this large-scale diversion of freshwater. One of the most obvious consequences is the depletion of aquifers, river systems, and downstream ground water. However, there are a number of other negative effects related to irrigation.
Areas drenched by irrigation can become waterlogged , creating soil conditions that poison plant roots through anaerobic decomposition. Where water has been diverted, soils can accrue too much salt, also harming plant growth. Irrigation causes increases in water evaporation, impacting both surface air temperature and pressure as well as atmospheric moisture conditions.
Recent studies have confirmed that cropland irrigation can influence rainfall patterns not only over the irrigated area but even thousands of miles away. Irrigation has also been connected to the erosion of coastlines and other kinds of long-term ecological and habitat destruction. Livestock Grazing A huge amount of agricultural territory is used primarily as pasture for cattle and other livestock.
In the western United States, counting both federally managed and privately owned grazing lands, hundreds of millions of acres are set aside for this purpose—more than for any other type of land use. Agricultural livestock are responsible for a large proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions, most notably methane. In addition, overgrazing is a major problem regarding environmental sustainability. In some places, stretches of forage land are consumed so extensively that grasses are unable to regenerate.
The root systems of native vegetation can be damaged so much that the species die off. Near streambeds and in other riparian areas where cattle concentrate, the combination of overgrazing and fecal wastes can contaminate or compromise water sources.
Cattle and other large grazing animals can even damage soil by trampling on it. Bare, compacted land can bring about soil erosion and destruction of topsoil quality due to the runoff of nutrients. These and other impacts can destabilize a variety of fragile ecosystems and wildlife habitats.
Chemical Fertilizer Synthetic fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus have been at the heart of the intensified farming from World War II to the present day.
They are particularly effective in the growing of corn, wheat, and rice, and are largely responsible for the explosive growth of cereal cultivation in recent decades. While these chemicals have helped double the rate of food production, they have also helped bring about a gigantic increase, perhaps as high as percent, of reactive nitrogen levels throughout the environment.
The excess levels of nitrogen and phosphorus have caused the once-beneficial nutrients to become pollutants. Roughly half the nitrogen in synthetic fertilizers escapes from the fields where it is applied, finding its way into the soil, air, water, and rainfall. After soil bacteria convert fertilizer nitrogen into nitrates, rainstorms or irrigation systems carry these toxins into groundwater and river systems.
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