Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
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Corals in the Indian Ocean will be soon exposed to sum-
mer temperatures that will exceed the thermal thresholds
observed over the last 20 years. Annual bleaching of cor-
als will almost become a certainty from 2050.
Organic agriculture
, synonymous for biological agricul-
ture, seems to be the feasible solution to the most debated
topic 'climate change'. The climate of our world is under-
going a dramatic change. Global warming is rapidly
increasing and there is a widespread consensus that the
current trend is caused by increased emissions of various
greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, hydrofluorocar-
bons, perfluorocarbons, sulphur hexafluoride, methane
and nitrous oxide. Greenhouse gases allow short-wave
solar radiation to pass into the Earth's atmosphere. They
absorb some of the long-wave thermal radiation that is
otherwise emitted back out to space, which results in
the warming effect on our atmosphere. The emission
of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere comes with
industrialisation, through deforestation, shifting cultiva-
tion and the expansion of intensive agriculture. Present-
day agriculture is no longer sustainable in most parts of
the country, we can no longer deny chemical fertilisers
and pesticides for the sake of susceptibility as defined
by the west. The powerful message that distills from all
thoughts and dialogues is the move toward Fukuoka's
natural farming and Vinoba Bhave's Sarvodaya method
of 'Rishi Kheti'. The logic to these naturalists is aimed at
a reduced dependency on non-renewable resources, pur-
chased inputs and population control to achieve a higher
efficiency of inputs and economic maximisation of yield
along with environmental safety. Biological agriculture
can be defined as a system that attempts to provide a bal-
anced environment, in which the maintenance of soil fer-
tility and the control of pests and diseases are achieved
by the enhancement of natural processes and cycles, with
moderate inputs of energy resources, while maintain-
ing an optimum productivity. The chemical agricultural
(conventional agriculture) techniques have resulted in a
great increase of productivity; however, they have greater
negative impacts that include soil erosion or degradation,
effects of pesticides, detention of soil health and environ-
ment, environmental pollution and so on.
