15 - Direct exploitation of organisms

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Cause

Agriculture

Direct exploitation of organisms

• Productivist agriculture/breeding accounts for 70% of drinking water withdrawals in the world (and up to 95% in certain developing countries), industry (20%) and domestic consumption 10%. • The reason is the gigantic irrigation of our crops. Some examples: 1kg of beef = 13,500 liters of water. 1 kg of cotton = 5,263 liters. 1 liter of milk = 1000 liters. 1 piece of white sugar = 10 liters. 1 liter of bottled water = 7 liters • In addition, a large part of irrigation water is lost through leakage and evaporation. • Among the biggest consumers: Nestlé (800 million liters per year) and Coca-Cola. The manufacture of 1 liter of Coke requires 2.5 to 6 liters of water, which is equivalent, for the global consumption of 350 billion liters of Coke/year, to 2100 billion liters of water/year for this alone. beverage ! To meet its enormous needs, the firm empties the aquifer resources of Mexico, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and African countries.


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Consequence

Direct exploitation of organisms

The second major cause of biodiversity loss is direct exploitation of environments. On land, this translates into intensive agriculture through the use of phytosanitary products (pesticides, herbicides, etc.) and the simplification of natural environments that this entails. At sea, overfishing is the cause.