[Mb-civic] A bittersweet harvest: How sugar causes massive envirodamage

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?s
tory=590707
 
A bittersweet harvest
Our insatiable appetite for sugary products is causing massive 
environmental damage to some of the world's most complex 
and delicate ecosystems, says Sanjida O'Connell
08 December 2004


Sugar has for generations sweetened our palates and expanded our 
waistlines. But it is not only our health that has suffered from the 
global cultivation of sugar cane. Studies conducted over recent 
years have shown that the crop has also been bad for two of the 
most important and unique ecosystems in the world - the Florida 
everglades and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Until the advent of sugar cane, the Florida Everglades was a vast 
swampland radiating from Lake Okeechobee, one of America's 
largest freshwater lakes. Marjory Stoneman Douglas, campaigner 
and author of many books on the Everglades, says: "Nowhere else 
is like them ... the miracle of the light pours over the green and 
brown expanse of saw grass and water ... it is a river of grass."

The Everglades were home to numerous species, from West Indian 
manatees to wood storks, Cape Sable seaside sparrows to snail 
kites. Now there are fewer than 30 Florida panthers left - a reddish-
brown cougar indigenous to south-west Florida - in fact, there are 
more statues of the cat than there are real ones. Fifty-six species 
living in the Everglades are either on the endangered or threatened 
list, the highest number in the country. Since 1930 there has been a 
90 per cent decrease in the number of wading birds, such as white 
ibis and roseate spoonbills. During the past 30 years, all animal 
species have declined by between 75 and 90 per cent.

The problem is largely due to the way in which sugar cane is 
farmed. The Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) was created out of 
drained land, 80 per cent of which is used to cultivate sugar cane. At 
283,000 hectares, it is the largest area set aside for farming in the 
world. But it wasn't until 1981 that scientists began to realise what 
such cultivation was doing to the environment. Phosphorus and 
nitrates from fertilisers used for sugar cane have been pouring into 
drainage canals and thus into national parks. As a result of the extra 
fertilisers, species such as cattails, a native grass, have grown 
rampantly, choking the Everglades and preventing wading birds 
from feeding.

Dr John Ogden, a biologist from South Florida water management 
district, has noticed an even more fundamental change at the very 
heart of this complex ecosystem. One of the major components of 
the Everglades is a slimy substance coating the plants in the 
marshes. It's made up of different types of freshwater algae and is 
food for many tiny freshwater creatures and fish that other larger 
animals feed on; in other words, it is the basis of the whole food 
chain in the Everglades. But recently, the change in the water 
chemistry has altered the composition of these algal colonies and 
now the creatures that once fed upon them are unable to do so.

There seems little hope for the future. The power of sugar 
companies in the state is legendary: half-way through 2003, 
Governor Jeb Bush passed a law pushed through by the US Sugar 
Corp that relaxed requirements to clean up the Everglades. 
Essentially the bill allows water-quality standards to be reduced, 
which means levels of phosphorus do not have to be dramatically 
lowered for some time.

Alan Farago, chair of the Florida branch of the Sierra Club, an 
environmental organisation, says: "We understand politics perfectly 
well. We understand that big money and big influence can buy just 
about anything in the state of Florida, including the redefinition of 
pollution so that polluters can continue to pollute."

On the other side of the world, the situation is no less acute. The 
Great Barrier Reef is also affected by run-off from sugar cane 
plantations. Production has expanded rapidly - 400,000 hectares 
are currently under cultivation. The result is that soil is quickly 
eroded and runs into the wetlands, rivers, streams and ultimately 
the sea. In sugar cane regions, losses of 380 tons per hectare have 
been recorded, compared with only four in natural rainforests. Since 
the 1950s, fertiliser has been used in ever-increasing amounts to 
keep sugar cane yields high, and this too washes into waterways.

The impact is immense: in 2003 a report by an independent panel of 
experts commissioned by the Queensland government showed that 
run-off from sugar cane plantations was the main cause of decline 
of up to 60 per cent of coral species in the inner section of the Great 
Barrier Reef. The high levels of nutrients from the fertilisers that 
wash into the sea promote the growth of plankton, which supports 
larger numbers of filter feeders, such as tubeworms and sponges, 
and these animals compete with coral for space.

But not everything is doom and gloom. Some 65 per cent of sugar 
cane grown here is now cultivated in a more environmentally friendly 
way. Traditionally, cane is burnt before it is harvested, to kill pests 
and make the fields more manageable for tilling after the harvest. 
However, "green cane", harvested without burning, is actually 
fresher and contains at least 6 per cent more sucrose. If the "trash", 
such as the leaves, is left on the soil, soil structure and fertility 
improves.

Over a five-year cycle of cane growth, fields treated in this way only 
lose 10 tons of soil per hectare on average per year. Nutrient loss, 
including fertiliser, is also reduced. Nevertheless, more than 20,000 
tons of nitrates still pour onto the barrier reef, a quarter of which 
comes from sugar cane agriculture.

Sugar derived from sugar beet, a turnip-like tuber, is little better for 
the environment. Like sugar cane it is grown in a monoculture 
creating a sterile environment for wildlife. Beet is also fed heavily 
with fertiliser and pesticides: farmers in Britain use 10.5 active 
herbicide ingredients per year, more than twice as much as is used 
on any other crop. According to the Soil Association, these practices 
particularly affect birds which live and nest in this habitat: for 
instance, between 1987 and 1998 the numbers of breeding 
lapwings declined by 50 per cent in Britain. Water demand is three 
times higher for beet than for cane, and the crop is one of the major 
causes of soil erosion in the UK - we lose more than 350,000 tons 
every time beet is harvested.

In response, Broom's Barn, the national centre for sugar beet 
research in Suffolk, has been conducting trials on genetically 
manipulated beet that is herbicide resistant. It needs 90 per cent 
less weed-killer, which could help make it more wildlife-friendly. 
"Frequent spraying destroys the weeds on which the insects and 
birds feed," says Broom's Barn's director, Dr John Pidgeon. "But our 
system means we can reduce the amount of spraying and allow 
weeds in between the rows to flourish in summer without affecting 
yield. We are very excited about our results because this is the first 
time research has shown that GM herbicide-tolerant crops can be 
managed for environmental benefit."

He hopes that, if trials are approved, the GM sugar will be on sale 
by 2007; though whether this will sweeten the unpalatable effects of 
sugar on the environment remains to be seen.

'Sugar: the Grass that Changed the World' by Sanjida O'Connell is 
published by Virgin Books, £20 
   13 December 2004 21:30


 
 
 
 



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