Food production and land and forest management have contributed significantly to global climate change, requiring a change in behaviors that have been central to human development — including diets, according to a major new United Nations report.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned Thursday that about 23% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions result from agriculture, forestry, and other land use practices, as the warming planet has already affected the world’s food and water supplies.
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“Climate change has already affected food security due to warming, changing precipitation patterns, and greater frequency of some extreme events,” said the report, which was produced by 107 experts from 52 countries. “The stability of food supply is projected to decrease as the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events that disrupt food chains increases.”
The report also found higher emissions can lower the nutritional quality of crops. In addition, a significant amount of agricultural emissions come from livestock, mostly from cattle which produce methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon, when they belch.
It says that “diversification” in the food system can reduce the risks from climate change, recommending people eat less meat in favor of more balanced diets featuring plant-based foods, such as grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.
The report said about 25% to 30% of total food produced in the world is lost or wasted, which leads to greater emissions.
“A lot of food doesn’t make it from farm to the plate,” Lynn Scarlett, vice president for policy and government relations at The Nature Conservancy, told the Washington Examiner. “Waste is a problem of food security and to the degree we have a large amount of food waste means we need to produce more food on more land to get to people’s plates.”
The findings build on a larger report released by the same U.N. climate panel last year that concluded world energy use must undergo a “rapid and far-reaching” transition by 2030 to prevent a 1.5-degree rise in the global temperature, the threshold required to avoid the worst consequences of global warming. That report said the world must reach net-zero emissions by 2050, inspiring Democratic presidential candidates and members of Congress to offer pledges to reach that target.
However, the contribution of agriculture activity to climate change has been traditionally overlooked, compared to the larger emitting electricity and transportation sectors.
“This report is significant because it shines a light on the land sector,” Scarlett said. “Lands matter big time in terms of climate impacts and it is those impacts that can affect the well being of people, access to water, and availability of food.”
