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      1. Reducing Impacts

Farming Facts & Figures

  • Land for farming crops, livestock and poultry currently covers 38% of the world's total land area.
  • 78% of agricultural land is used for livestock production.
  • Aquaculture accounts for 47% of the world’s fish food supply.
  • Most aquaculture has been developed in freshwater environments, mainly in Asia
  • An estimated 50% more food than is currently produced will be needed in order to feed the global population by 2050.
  • Rising wealth is driving demand for high-value commodities, like animal protein (milk, eggs, fish, meat), oils and coffee, which often require more land and/or water to produce than more traditional staples.  

Farming

News

Agriculture is essential to supplying our food, many of the fibres we use (like cotton) and, more and more, biofuels too.

It's also the world's largest industry, employing over one billion people and generating over one trillion dollars' worth of food annually.

And it's the largest driver of habitat and biodiversity loss around the world.

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Terraced fields and farm, Kyumnu, Nepal.
Around 50% of the world's habitable land has already been converted to farming land – and a further 120 million hectares of natural habitats in developing countries is predicted to be converted to farmland to meet demand for food by 2050. This will include land with high biodiversity value.1
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.

Problems include:
  • Extensive land conversion and habitat loss
  • Excessive water use
  • Pollution from fertilizers and pesticides
  • Soil erosion and degradation
  • Desertification
  • Genetic erosion of crop and livestock species.

Info on other crops

What WWF is doing

We are working with major companies and their supply chains to ensure that key global agriculture and aquaculture commodities are produced and processed in an efficient and sustainable manner – one that preserves and restores critical habitats, helps protect watersheds, and improves soil health and water quality.

We are particularly focusing on the following farmed commodities: cattle (beef and dairy), cotton, biofuels, palm oil, salmon, shrimp, soy, and sugarcane.

Work centres on:

  • Convening multi-stakeholder roundtables that define principles and criteria for reducing the impacts of growing priority commodities
  • Identifying and implementing better management practices that protect the environment as well as producers' bottom line
  • Creating financial incentives to encourage biodiversity conservation
  • Improving agricultural policies
  • Identifying new income opportunities for producers to ensure their economic viability.
The work is underpinned by the expertise and knowledge of WWF's Global Forest Programme, Global Freshwater Programme and Global Marine Programme , and carried out in conjunction with:
 1. CBD/UNEP (2001) Global Biodiversity Outlook
 

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