4.4 Agriculture and Forestry Sector

Socio-scientific Issues in Agriculture and Forestry

• Increasing population density and changing standards of living raise demand for:
  • new residential areas;
  • sufficient food supplies; and
  • good transportation links.
• If development is not properly controlled and supervised, it can cause severe environmental effects.
• Land clearing and logging for settlement or agriculture can cause landslides, major floods and extinction of flora and fauna.
• Extensive forest exploration disrupts the gas cycle on Earth because the conversion of carbon dioxide to oxygen occurs when plants carry out photosynthesis.
• Open burning by farmers in plantation areas can cause severe haze and affect air quality within the country and in neighbouring countries.
• High demand for furniture and uncontrolled paper use encourage widespread deforestation because both products come from trees.
• Uncontrolled logging can cause landslides; the landslide at Kuala Lumpur–Karak Highway on 11 November 2015 was believed to have resulted from uncontrolled logging at Lentang Recreational Forest.
• Excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers:
  • contaminates agricultural soil;
  • increases soil acidity until the soil is no longer suitable for agriculture; and
  • allows absorbed chemicals to flow into nearby rivers, causing water pollution.

Green Technology Applications

• Treat and process agricultural waste into compost to help maintain the balance of nature.
• Replant trees to help preserve existing species.
• Control logging activities to conserve forest resources.
• Gazette more forest reserves so that forest ecosystems remain balanced.

Issue-to-solution chain

Population and lifestyle demands → land clearing, logging, intensive agriculture and open burning → soil and water pollution, haze, disruption of the gas cycle, floods, landslides, and extinction of flora and fauna.

Composting agricultural waste + replanting trees + controlling logging + gazetting forest reserves → conserved resources, preserved species and balanced ecosystems.