Environmental degradation and agriculture: an approach in countries by middle of indexes

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Society evolution is commonly followed by changes; however, some of them bring negative implications for the community. One of these consequences refers to environmental degradation, which has agricultural activity as one of its influencing agents, which is essentially characterized by man’s predatory actions. Accordingly, this research analyzed the environmental degradation in 167 pattern in the agricultural world. Therefore, the Agricultural Environmental Degradation Index (IDAA) was used as a proxy for agricultural environmental degradation and the factor analysis technique. Results indicated that the most degraded country was Russia, which belongs to the European continent; however, the other positions were occupied predominantly by Africa, followed by North America and Oceania. Issues such as rural poverty and primitive natural settings can leverage this phenomenon. The lowest rates of degradation were concentrated on Central America and Europe, where agricultural activity was most incipient. In this sense, a directly proportional relationship between environmental degradation and agricultural practice was reported considering that countries dependent on this phenomenon had the most worrying results. Thereby, there is an emerging need for public policies that integrate economic and environmental dimensions that reduce negative impacts in the regions most degraded.