The ecologist - mercredi 13 avril 2011
Sugar can be produced from both sugar beet and sugarcane. Sugarcane production is of particular concern in terms of environmental degradation and human rights abuses, reports William McLennan
Environment
The cultivation of sugarcane negatively impacts the land on which it is grown, and the surrounding environment.
Habitat loss
The conversion of natural habitats for sugar cultivation is widespread and reduces biodiversity.
- In 15 sugar-producing countries 10 to 50 per cent of land is dedicated to sugar cultivation and in seven countries sugarcane covers more than 50 per cent of land.
- Sugar cultivation affects the wider environment, altering water flow rates, increasing soil erosion and changing nutrient cycles.
- Sugar cultivation requires a large volume of water and alters natural water flow resulting in the loss of wetland habitats, such as mangroves.
- In Australia, sugar cultivation ; including the damming of rivers, increases in soil erosion and heavy fertiliser use, has reduced the quality of freshwater flow to the Great Barrier Reef.
Soil quality
- Sugar cultivation can decrease soil quality, leading to a decrease in productivity and increased soil erosion.
- Growing sugar in monoculture over repeated seasons reduces the soils ability to store water and nutrients, leading to increased water use and intensive application of fertilisers.
- Increased soil erosion results in sediment pollution of surrounding rivers, lakes and marine environments.
Agro-chemicals
Large quantities of chemicals are applied to sugar plantations to control pests and supply inorganic nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen. These chemicals can be toxic to the environment and alter natural biochemical systems.
Fertilisers
- Application of fertilisers leads to acidification of soil making it unsuitable for many plants.
- Up to 30 per cent of fertilisers are washed off in to the surrounding environment leading to an increase in available nutrients.
- Increased nutrients lead to blooms of plants or microorganisms, which causes the depletion of oxygen in water.
- In Florida, fertiliser runoff from sugar plantations has increased the available nutrients in the Everglades allowing aggressive species to take over and reducing biodiversity.
Pesticides
- Pesticides are toxic to humans and the environment and can accumulate in sugarcane.
- 25 million cases of poisoning from pesticides occur in developing world each year, according to the World Health Organisation.
- Overuse of pesticides can lead to the development of resistance in pests and can release secondary pests due to the elimination of their natural enemies.
Processing
The processing of sugarcane into refined sugar requires large quantities of water and chemicals, such as sulphur dioxide and phosphoric acid.
- Nutrient rich effluents from the sugar mills are constantly released into the environment. In tropical regions where the oxygen content of water is already low, this can lead to the suffocation of waterways.
- Annual cleaning of sugar mills can lead to the pollution of waterways with oil and chemicals. In 1995 in Bolivia the annual cleaning of sugar mills resulted in the deaths of millions of fish (WWF).
Human rights
In less industrialised countries, sugarcane is harvested by hand and is extremely labour intensive ; violations of sugar plantation worker’s human rights are frequently reported.
Forced Labour
Around the world inequality and poverty are used by rich landowners to secure cheap labour.
- In Bolivia and Brazil, indigenous people are recruited from remote areas and lead into a cycle of ‘debt-bondage’ where advances on wages are offered, these debts are then used to legitimise bondage over multiple seasons.
- In 2007, in just eight months, 3,400 workers were liberated from ‘conditions analogous to slavery’ on Brazilian farms. However these practices are thought to be on going ; plantations are in the remote Western Amazonian frontier and there is a history of governmental corruption, according to Human Rights Watch.
- In South Asia cultural prejudices and traditions are used to exploit the most vulnerable groups. The majority of labourers working in debt bondage are Dalits or ‘untouchables’- a group at the bottom of the Hindu caste system, historically associated with occupations regarded as unsuitable for other groups.
