The transformative potential of the right to food 2014, para. 5
Paragraph- Paragraph text
- The exclusive focus on increasing agricultural production has also had severe environmental impacts. The twentieth-century "Green Revolution" technological package combined the use of high-yielding plant varieties with increased irrigation, the mechanization of agricultural production and the use of nitrogen-based fertilizers and pesticides. Thanks to State support in the form of subsidies and marketing, this was effective in increasing the production volumes of major cereals (particularly maize, wheat and rice) and of soybean. The Green Revolution was an attempt to meet the challenge as it was framed at the time: to ensure that increases in agricultural productivity would match population growth and the dietary transition facilitated by rising incomes. It led, however, to an extension of monocultures and thus to a significant loss of agrobiodiversity and to accelerated soil erosion. The overuse of chemical fertilizers polluted fresh water, increasing its phosphorus content and leading to a flow of phosphorus to the oceans that is estimated to have risen to approximately 10 million tons annually. Phosphate and nitrogen water pollution is the main cause of eutrophication, the human-induced augmentation of natural fertilization processes which spurs algae growth that absorbs the dissolved oxygen required to sustain fish stocks.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Means of adoption
- N.A.
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Paragraph type
- Other
- Reference
- SR Food, Report to the HRC (2014), A/HRC/25/57, para. 5.
- Paragraph number
- 5
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