The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s flagship report on the relationship between climate change and land use, puts a big question mark on the future of intensive, industrial agriculture.
Large-scale industrial meat production is highlighted as an inefficient use of land and a major driver of deforestation. The report finds that farming approaches must change if runaway climate change and spiralling food insecurity are to be averted.
Teresa Anderson, ActionAid’s climate policy coordinator, says:
“The world’s leading scientists are clear – the way we produce food and manage land must change dramatically if we are to avert catastrophic climate change. Farming must work with nature, not against it.
“The IPCC’s land report puts a big question mark on the future of industrial agriculture. A major shift to farming methods that work with nature, reduce emissions, empower women farmers and improve resilience to the impacts of climate change, is now essential.
“It sends a stark warning that relying on harmful technologies such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, which would take up huge amounts of land, are at odds with our need to improve food security and protect our natural ecosystems.
“Rich, polluting countries cannot expect the Global South to give away swathes of farmland to clean up the climate mess.”
