The human intervention of land use for cultivation, aims to produce raw materials for food and for other activities, but at the same time the practice of agriculture interferes with the terrestrial ecosystems.
However, the expansion of areas for agriculture and overexploitation of land with consequent increases of fertilizers and pesticides, contribute to the negative environmental impact of this activity.
Today, thanks to a militarized world, we’ve reached a state of imbalance of the marine environment thanks to various chemical, physical and biological factors.
The sea has a great capacity for self-purification thus reducing the development of a larger spread of pathogens that would otherwise contaminate the fish entering the human food chain.
Numerous pesticides carried by river waters have very harmful effects on the fauna and flora of the coast. The pollutants generally run throughout the marine food chain, starting in phytoplankton and zooplankton to focus finally on the shellfish and fish that are eaten by humans.
We interviewed Professor Rita Costa, who explained the process of agriculture as a source of marine pollution. She also highlighted that the red tides and heavy metals contributed for acceleration of this process.
In short the quality of the sea water, which is vital to the marine life and essential for tourism, can not be at risk of contamination, especially in this Natural Conservation area we call the Parque Natural do Sudoeste Aletejano e Costa Vicentina.
“Do you want to continue destroying this landscape?”
Filipa Murta,
Jéssica Luís,
Margarida Costa
Alunas do 11º e 12º ano, Turma B – Colégio Nossa Senhora da Graça
