From Simon Birnstingl
The Stockholm Environment Institute’s assessment of the Earth’s life-support systems seems to have failed to examine the issues closely enough. Your article (27 February, p 30) did not mention soil loss or degradation, though it did deal with land use.
Many soils can sustain agricultural use for many years – if they are treated properly. Unfortunately they have not been, as economic pressures have led to poor agricultural practices.
We will all pay the price as oil becomes more expensive and the declining quality of the soils depresses crop yields. Add to that increasing population, climate change and demand for biofuels, and the pressure on existing soils becomes unsustainable.
Modern agricultural techniques generally cause tropical soils to erode much faster than temperate soils – often 1000 times faster. Unless appropriate cultivation and soil conservation methods are found, we will be faced with the same problem that destroyed all past civilisations. This time we have nowhere new to go.
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Upper Beeding, West Sussex, UK
