by Simon Jessop and Gloria Dickie
LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) – Investors managing $14 trillion have urged the United Nations to create a global plan to help the agricultural sector become greener and reduce one of the biggest sources of climate-damaging emissions, according to a letter consulted by Reuters.
Food production is the source of around a third of global greenhouse gas emissions and is the main threat to 86% of species threatened with extinction worldwide, the group says, while livestock farming is responsible for three quarters of the disappearance of the Amazon fort.
Climate scientists warned in April that the global goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average by 2050 could not be achieved without significant changes in land use.
However, a study by the FAIRR initiative last year showed that the emission reduction plans of most G20 countries did not include any emission reduction targets for the agricultural sector.
The letter to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Director General, Qu Dongyu, says the UN agency is best placed to create a roadmap to ensure better planning. .
“To keep the 1.5C target within reach, the global food system urgently needs a baseline roadmap that reduces emissions while protecting the health and livelihoods of people everywhere. “, declared Gnther Thallinger, president of the Alliance of owners of net zero assets (NZAOA) convened by the UN, one of the signatories of the letter.
“We urge the FAO to act on the basis of scientific evidence and work towards the realization of this historic roadmap.”
THE “GREEN REVOLUTION” IN THE SIGHT LINE
The launch of a similar initiative for the energy sector last year by the International Energy Agency (IEA) demonstrated the success of such a roadmap, according to investors.
A similar initiative for the agricultural sector would prove to be a crucial tool to help investors and other stakeholders change their practices more quickly.
Although investors see FAO as the best-placed agency to lead such work, Olivier De Schutter, co-chair of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, said it has historically delivered a ” mixed message about the impacts of agriculture on climate change”.
Although FAO has generally encouraged approaches based on heavy machinery, large-scale irrigation, chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture, the agency has also advocated low-input solutions that reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
“FAO has been far from consistent in this regard and there remains a huge gap between its promise to support agrocology and the reality of the advice and support it gives to countries,” he said. “My hope is that the initiative of these investors can force the FAO to rethink its policies.”
The FAO did not respond to a request for comment.
In addition to setting clear guidance for businesses and other stakeholders on the volume of emissions that must be mitigated to limit warming to 1.5C, the letter draws particular attention to the need for a pathway to reduce emissions. of methane.
Livestock are responsible for almost a third of the world’s man-made methane emissions, released in the form of livestock belches, manure and forage crops.
(French version Camille Raynaud)