Threats to the agri-food system’s productivity and sustainability Food safety and persistent nutrition problems as new sources of food

The success of the agriculture sector in developing East Asia is associated with a heavy environmental footprint. Despite the sector’s contributions to economic development in the region, continued emphasis on food security, productivity, and rapid commodity growth has had major negative impacts on the environment. These environmental impacts have at times negatively affected agricultural productivity,1 health, and livelihoods. Although agricultural pollution has progressed at different rates across the region, it has become a concern in all countries where farming has taken an intensive turn. Several factors drive these impacts, such as conversion of new agricultural land, limited farmer knowledge of pesticide use2 and good farming practices, and weak institutional support for sustainability standards. These practices and limitations have led to deforestation; soil erosion; water, air, and marine plastics pollution3 (chapters 4 and 5); accelerated release of greenhouse gases (GHGs); water scarcity; and the salinization of water resources. The expansion or intensification of commodity agriculture may also pose threats to biodiversity, create competition for scarce water resources, and contribute to climate change (Scherr et al. 2015; World Bank 2004) and the emergence of zoonoses (McAleenan and Nicolle 2020).

The costs associated with environmental degradation and adverse impacts are substantial. At the individual farm and community levels the costs arise from, for example, decreasing productivity, lower production, and a wide variety of health effects (EJF 2003; Sapkota et al. 2008). National economic losses associated with environmental degradation are also significant across East and Southeast Asian countries (Scherr et al. 2015). For instance, natural resources depletion has been estimated to range from 2 percent of gross national income in the Philippines to 12 percent of gross national income in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (figure 2.1). In the East Asia and Pacific Region, the annual cost of plastic pollution to the tourism, fishing, and shipping industries alone has been estimated at $1.3 billion (World Bank 2019b).