Food production
The environmental impacts of food include the greenhouse gas emissions generated in food production and across the food system, as well as the ecological impacts of soil degradation, water and air pollution and loss of biodiversity. These can have direct human health impacts, for example from water and air pollution. In the longer term, the impact of degraded soils and loss of insects will make food production – in Scotland and abroad – more difficult, which will threaten both the supply and the affordability of food in the future.
Sustainable urban agriculture, using both traditional and new technologies, is an important part of building a sustainable food system which benefits the local economy.
The type of foods we eat is also important – a more sustainable diet has more seasonal, plant-based components (vegetables, legumes, and so on) and fewer animal products, which should be fairly and sustainably produced, and sourced within Scotland as far as possible.
- Food (production, consumption, disposal) accounts for 26% of global greenhouse gas emissions (Source: DOI: 10.1126/science.aaq0216)
- Half of the world's habitable land is used for agriculture (Source: Land Use - Our World in Data, 2024)
- Worldwide, agriculture accounts for roughly 70% of all freshwater withdrawals (Source: UNESCO, 2024)
- The global food system is the primary driver of biodiversity loss, with agriculture alone being the identified threat to 86% of the 28,000 species at risk of extinction (Source: Food system impacts on biodiversity loss | UNEP - UN Environment Programme, 2021)
This page was last updated in September 2024.