IIn Betty’s Bay, South Africa, one of the world’s most famous wildlife creatures, an African penguin, was busy shaking herself off the sea. On land, the eyes of this princess of the sea, equal parts cute and ungainly, lit up. It was late April, the peak of breeding season, and she darted toward the rocks and shrubs beyond the tide, where she disappeared briefly under a winding boardwalk built for viewing tourists, then reappeared on the other side. White nesting shelters lined the edge of the beach, and in one of them was her mate.
Nearby, conservationists proudly pointed out a new walkway scientists had designed for the penguins, which the flightless birds now use as their favorite route under the boardwalk to the sea. Cleverly, the walkway passes through a state-of-the-art weighbridge that will let scientists know how successful the dapper little birds are in catching fish. African penguins spend much of their time in the ocean catching fish; on a good day, they can gain up to a third of their body weight in a single day. On a bad day, they lose weight and may give up on breeding.
read more: How can we help the fishing industry? Quit fishing
So how are the penguins doing? Not well. Sardines and anchovies, the penguins’ main prey, are being pulled from the sea in large quantities to be used as animal feed. Much of the fish is ground into fishmeal that is used to feed industrially farmed pigs, poultry, and fish. Dwindling fish resources make it harder for penguins to find enough food for their chicks, putting further pressure on a species that is already in steep decline.
The latest predictions suggest that this iconic species could become extinct in the wild by 2035. Once numbering in the millions, African penguins have declined by 97% in just over a century. The impact of their decline will be felt closer to home and not just in the local economy. A similar penguin colony at Boulders Beach in Cape Town is a famous tourist magnet, estimated to bring in more than 300 million rand ($16 million) a year in tourism revenue.
This ongoing ecological disaster also signals wider concerns for the environment, and penguins are seen as a key indicator of the broader ecological health of the ocean. Their plight could be the canary in the coal mine that indicates what needs to be done to protect life both on land and in the sea.
The oceans are Earth’s life support system and regulate the planet’s climate system. They are the world’s largest ecosystem, home to around one million species and offering great potential for scientific discovery.
Despite our total reliance on the ocean, we have only explored about 10% of it so far, and while we know only a tiny fraction of it compared to its vast expanse, we do know that the consequences of our actions are evident throughout it.
As the plight of penguins shows, a classic interdependence between land and sea is how we produce our food. In recent decades, industrial agriculture has increased, often accompanied by heavy use of artificial fertilisers and chemical pesticides, and poor animal welfare. Livestock are essentially taken off pasture and grown in confinement, with major impacts on both their welfare and the environment.
Fertilizer is a major contributor to marine pollution, creating more than 500 dead zones, or areas of ocean water where no life exists. Soil is bombarded with commercial fertilizers and compost that contain the “big three” nutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). The excess nutrients then wash into rivers and streams and ultimately into the ocean, killing fish and other aquatic life essential to the wider ecosystem, including seabirds like penguins.
Scientists are now concerned that the amount of nitrogen pollution emitted by global livestock production is more than the planet can process. Amable Uwaiseeye of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has found that livestock production is responsible for about one-third of humanity’s total nitrogen emissions. 68% of these emissions come from crops grown to feed livestock, followed by nitrogen released from manure accumulation and management.
This exacerbates the triple global crisis of climate change, loss of nature and biodiversity, and growing pollution and waste. This crisis is attacking the world’s ecosystems. It is degrading billions of hectares of land, affecting almost half the world’s population and threatening half of global GDP. Rural areas, small farmers and the extremely poor are hit hardest.
The way we produce and consume food is responsible for more than 80% of biodiversity loss. Land-based pollution and overfishing of animals for food affect the penguins of Betty’s Bay as well as species in other parts of Africa and the world. Sadly, penguins are one of the most endangered groups of seabirds, with half of the 18 penguin species listed as vulnerable or endangered.
But land restoration can reverse the gradual trends of degradation, drought, and desertification. Restoration improves livelihoods, reduces poverty, and builds resilience to extreme weather. Restoration increases carbon stocks and slows climate change. By restoring just 15 percent of land and halting further conversion, we could avert up to 60 percent of projected species extinctions.
We cannot turn back time, but we can grow forests, green our cities, fish sustainably, collect rainwater and eat nature-friendly, high-welfare foods. Governments and the financial sector can promote regenerative and nature-friendly agriculture, increasing food production while protecting ecosystems. Subsidies for agriculture, forestry and fisheries can be redirected towards sustainable practices and small-scale farmers. Agriculture can be encouraged to use sustainable farming practices that do not rely on large amounts of chemical inputs and animal feed. Farmed animals can be returned to the land as part of balanced, rotational, mixed farming practices that are nature-friendly and comply with animal welfare and agro-ecological principles. Consumers can help by choosing foods that help build a better, more sustainable future.
Only then can we become a generation that is finally at peace with the land and the sea – and only then can we ensure a better future for the penguins of Betty’s Bay, for humans and for all other life on Earth.
