land use
Report: Governments must ‘drastically improve’ efforts to reduce emissions in food, land-use systems
As the first week of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) winds down, a new analysis of emissions-reduction pledges finds that those countries that have contributed the most to climate change have committed to do far too little to reduce emissions from the food system and leverage the carbon sequestration potential of landscapes. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Opinion: How farmers can be at the forefront of the climate solution
More than a half century after the first Earth Day, with our planet in worse shape than it’s ever been, the challenge of slowing global warming and the environmental, economic and social devastation underway can sometimes feel like too much — too expensive, too complicated and too politically divisive to overcome. But when we wake up every morning in rural Marion County, Iowa, we aren’t filled with despair. We’re filled with hope in a revolutionary idea: that farmers will help mitigate climate damage that farmers will help mitigate climate damage if we pay them to make their operations more resilient and sustainable. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Food system responsible for one-third of greenhouse gases
The world food system, stretching from farm field and feedlot to grocery store and waste management facility, generates 34 percent of the greenhouse gases created by human activity, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said this week.
‘You cannot do climate on the backs of the American farmer’
Farmers expect to be paid for climate mitigation, and not at the expense of the traditional farm subsidies, said the president of the largest U.S. farm group during a discussion of President Biden's goal of an agriculture sector that achieves net-zero emission of greenhouse gases by 2050. Other ag leaders on the panel organized by USDA agreed there must be a financial payoff for the voluntary, incentive-based practices espoused by the administration to succeed.
Ag must make big changes to reach climate goals, says report
Progress toward limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — the goal of the Paris Agreement — is “highly insufficient,” “off-track,” “too slow,” and “inadequate” across almost every key sector: power, buildings, industry, transport, agriculture, and forests, the World Resources Institute and the ClimateWorks Foundation said Wednesday in their State of Climate Action report.<strong> (No paywall) </strong>
Opinion: How land — and the way we use it — is at the center of the climate crisis
It’s time to bring the conversation about climate down to earth, says Judith Schwartz. How we treat our land matters. This is good news, because by managing our land for enhanced ecological function — for operational carbon, water, nutrient, and energy cycles — we are enhancing climate resilience and mitigation. We can also produce healthier and more abundant crops while relying less on expensive and environmentally counterproductive inputs. In short, we will be working with nature rather than against her. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>