Every day the world loses 20,000 hectares of forest

FAO: Land degradation caused by arsenic-contaminated groundwater

VNA reporter at the United Nations led the report of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that the use of arsenic-contaminated groundwater in agriculture could lead to a phenomenon of depleting agricultural land and reducing Crop productivity and increase arsenic residues in fruits and vegetables.

( Credit : Flickr) According to the report, arsenic-contaminated groundwater is threatening the health of 30 million Bangladeshi people. It is estimated that about 1,000 tons of arsenic are contaminated each year in Bangladesh farmland through irrigation water.

An FAO official in charge of water and environment quality also said that in places with high arsenic residues in water and soil, arsenic residues in crops and food also increase, especially in rice.

According to FAO, since the 1990s, arsenic pollution in groundwater has been considered a health problem in Bangladesh, China and India, and more recently in Cambodia, Iran, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.

To reduce this situation, countries need to increase the efficiency of water use and change the structure of crops such as planting crops that require less water.

In addition, FAO is also expected to introduce the issue of side effects of water, including arsenic contaminated water, to discuss at the Asian Regional Conference on Agriculture and Water Quality, which will conducted in Shanghai in May 2007.

Every day the world loses 20,000 hectares of forest

Deforestation is one of the main causes of climate change and the danger is that uncontrolled deforestation is becoming more and more uncontrollable. Every day the world loses 20,000 hectares of forest, losing 7.3 million hectares of forest each year. The warning was given at the Seminar on Sustainable Management and Cooperation for Development, held in Spain.

FAO Director of Forest Resources Jose Antonio Pardo said 60% of deforestation activities occur in Brazil and Indonesia, while in Africa, up to 94% of deforested timber is used only for firewood although Technological advances completely allow the replacement of this fuel.

FAO said it will build a new forest regulation and will move it to all countries to apply.