Environmental degradation
When natural habitats are destroyed or natural resources are depleted, the environment is degraded; direct environmental degradation, such as deforestation, which is readily visible; this can be caused by more indirect process, such as the build up of plastic pollution over time or the buildup of greenhouse gases that causes tipping points in the climate system.
[9] The Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, published by the United Nation's IPBES in 2019, posits that roughly one million species of plants and animals face extinction from anthropogenic causes, such as expanding human land use for industrial agriculture and livestock rearing, along with overfishing.
[10][11][12] Since the establishment of agriculture over 11,000 years ago, humans have altered roughly 70% of the Earth's land surface, with the global biomass of vegetation being reduced by half, and terrestrial animal communities seeing a decline in biodiversity greater than 20% on average.
[13][14] A 2021 study says that just 3% of the planet's terrestrial surface is ecologically and faunally intact, meaning areas with healthy populations of native animal species and little to no human footprint.
With regard to the agriculture sector for example, The State of the World's Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture, published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2019,[18] states that "countries report that many species that contribute to vital ecosystem services, including pollinators, the natural enemies of pests, soil organisms and wild food species, are in decline as a consequence of the destruction and degradation of habitats, overexploitation, pollution and other threats" and that "key ecosystems that deliver numerous services essential to food and agriculture, including supply of freshwater, protection against hazards and provision of habitat for species such as fish and pollinators, are declining.
Women's livelihoods, health, food and nutrition security, access to water and energy, and coping abilities are all disproportionately affected by environmental degradation.
Environmental pressures and shocks, particularly in rural areas, force women to deal with the aftermath, greatly increasing their load of unpaid care work.
Also, as limited natural resources grow even scarcer due to climate change, women and girls must also walk further to collect food, water or firewood, which heightens their risk of being subjected to gender-based violence.
[20] This implies, for example, longer journeys to get primary necessities and greater exposure to the risks of human trafficking, rape, and sexual violence.
It is predicted that the mean global temperature will rise in the coming years due to a number of forces affecting the climate.
[26] Sea-level rise may also consequently be caused by a depletion of groundwater,[28] as climate change can affect the hydrologic cycle in a number of ways.
Uneven distributions of increased temperatures and increased precipitation around the globe results in water surpluses and deficits,[27] but a global decrease in groundwater suggests a rise in sea level, even after meltwater and thermal expansion were accounted for,[28] which can provide a positive feedback to the problems sea-level rise causes to fresh-water supply.
Naturally, the distribution of precipitation across the planet is very uneven, causing constant variations in water availability in respective locations.
Changes in precipitation affect the timing and magnitude of floods and droughts, shift runoff processes, and alter groundwater recharge rates.
[26] Groundwater reserves will be depleted, and the remaining water has a greater chance of being of poor quality from saline or contaminants on the land surface.
[24] Climate change is resulting into a very high rate of land degradation causing enhanced desertification and nutrient deficient soils.
Organic compounds such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have generated an opening in the ozone layer, which admits higher levels of ultraviolet radiation, putting the globe at risk.
[34] Agriculture is dependent on available soil moisture, which is directly affected by climate dynamics, with precipitation being the input in this system and various processes being the output, such as evapotranspiration, surface runoff, drainage, and percolation into groundwater.
Irrigation increases salt and nutrient content in areas that would not normally be affected, and damages streams and rivers from damming and removal of water.
Manure can contaminate bodies of freshwater, and slaughterhouses, depending on how well they are managed, contribute waste such as blood, fat, hair, and other bodily contents to supplies of fresh water.
Industrialized nations, with higher per capita consumption rates, often have a disproportionately large environmental footprint compared to less developed regions.
Efforts to adopt sustainable development practices, including renewable energy, recycling, and waste reduction, could mitigate some of the environmental impacts of increased consumption.
While one of the biggest reasons for deforestation is agriculture use for the world's food supply, removing trees from landscapes also increases erosion rates in areas, making it harder to produce crops in those soil types.
