462-3/24 - Agriculture and
Global Warming. draft
462/24 - Global warming and Energy
Transition. draft
Global Warming and Agriculture: A Complex Relationship
Agriculture is a significant contributor to global warming due to its reliance
on practices such as deforestation, livestock farming, and the use of synthetic
fertilizers. These activities release greenhouse gases, including carbon
dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, into the atmosphere. Deforestation, in
particular, reduces the Earth's ability to absorb carbon dioxide.
Global warming has profound consequences for agriculture. Rising
temperatures can lead to more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves, and
floods, affecting crop yields and livestock productivity. Changes in
precipitation patterns can also disrupt agricultural practices. Additionally,
ocean acidification, caused by the absorption of excess carbon dioxide by the
oceans, can harm marine ecosystems that provide food for coastal communities.
The movie
"The Day After Tomorrow" (2004) offers a fictional depiction of the
potential consequences of global warming on agriculture. In the film, a sudden
climate shift leads to extreme weather events, including a global freeze, that
devastate food production. While the film's portrayal may be exaggerated, it
serves as a stark warning about the potential risks of climate change to
agriculture.
Addressing the
relationship between global warming and agriculture requires a multifaceted
approach. Individuals can reduce their carbon footprint by adopting sustainable
dietary habits, such as consuming less meat and more plant-based foods.
Governments can support sustainable agriculture practices, promote renewable
energy sources, and invest in climate adaptation measures. International
cooperation is also essential to address the global nature of climate change
and its impacts on agriculture.
Global Warming and
Agriculture
Introduction
- Agriculture
is a significant contributor to global warming due to its reliance on
fossil fuels for machinery and fertilizers.
- Deforestation for
agricultural land expansion releases stored carbon into the atmosphere.
- Livestock production emits large amounts of
methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Development I: Consequences of Global Warming for Agriculture
- Climate
change is altering precipitation patterns, leading to droughts and floods
that affect crop yields.
- Rising temperatures
can reduce crop quality and increase pest and disease outbreaks.
- Sea-level rise threatens coastal agricultural
lands and freshwater sources.
Development II: A Movie or Series
- The
documentary series "Kiss the Ground" highlights the impact of
industrial agriculture on climate change and explores regenerative farming
practices as a solution.
- It showcases how soil health and biodiversity
can be restored to sequester carbon and improve agricultural resilience.
Conclusion: Intervention Proposals
- Individual Interventions:
- Reduce meat
consumption to decrease methane emissions.
- Support sustainable
farming practices that prioritize soil health and biodiversity.
- Reduce food waste to
minimize the environmental footprint of agriculture.
- Institutional Interventions:
- Invest in research
and development for climate-resilient crops and agricultural practices.
- Promote policies that incentivize sustainable
agriculture and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
- Support farmers in transitioning to more
sustainable methods.
Farming must pay for its
emissions, says EU chief climate scientist, by Alice Hancock in Brussels,
september 25, 2024
‘Price signal’ is needed to reduce agricultural
greenhouse gases and meet bloc’s targets
The EU’s chief climate scientist has warned that
the bloc will miss its climate targets if it does not force the agricultural
sector to pay for its greenhouse gas emissions.
The remarks came as the world’s fastest-warming
continent suffered severe flooding throughout central Europe in an example of
extreme weather events that scientists say are exacerbated by climate change.
Ottmar Edenhofer, chair of the European Scientific
Advisory Board on Climate Change, told the Financial Times that it would be
“almost impossible” to achieve the European Commission’s proposed aim of
cutting emissions by 90 per cent by 2040 without a levy on agricultural
emissions.
“[Over] the last 15 years, the emissions in the
agriculture sector remained quite stable,” Edenhofer said, while other sectors
had cut their climate impact. “The price signal is important because without
the price signal, it is very unlikely that, basically, we can reduce
emissions,” he added.
Farming makes up 12 per cent of the EU’s emissions,
of which about two-thirds comes from meat and dairy production.
But it is one of the few sectors in the EU to have
so far avoided strict climate legislation, including sectoral emissions
reduction targets, in part because of farmers’ ability to stage widespread and
disruptive protests.
Earlier this year, tractor blockades and
demonstrations by farmers in many European capitals catalysed a rethink in the
EU about how it was approaching efforts to decarbonise farms.
It prompted the commission to retract a proposed
law on pesticides and delete recommended targets from a document outlining how
the bloc would reach its 2040 goal.
EU chief climate scientist Ottmar Edenhofer
Ottmar Edenhofer, the EU’s chief climate scientist,
said as well as addressing agricultural emissions, the EU must push harder to
develop carbon removal technologies © Monika
Skolimowska/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
But the issue of making either farmers or other
parties in the food chain pay for emissions has risen up the agenda as Brussels
starts to outline its priorities for the next five-year mandate starting later
this year.
Denmark has also been lobbying Brussels to introduce
an EU-wide system after it announced the world’s first carbon tax on farm
emissions in June.
EU officials are weighing options including a levy
on food processors that would also include incentives for farmers to use their
land as a carbon sink.
But a report on the future of farming in the EU
that stemmed from consultations between food and farming industry groups as
well as environmental NGOs, published this month, said it was “premature” to
come to a conclusion about pricing agricultural emissions.
The scientific advisory board, which evaluates the
bloc’s climate policies, has also not yet officially weighed in on the debate
but will publish a report on models for an agricultural emissions trading
system next year.
Edenhofer said the board had found that to reach
the 90 per cent goal, the EU would have to cut emissions by 171 megatonnes of
carbon dioxide each year, roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of the
Netherlands and Denmark combined.
As well as addressing agricultural emissions, the
EU must also push harder to develop carbon removal technologies, such as carbon
capture and storage, said Edenhofer.
“We are fully aware that not all of these
technologies are ready for a dramatic upscaling but we feel this is something
which needs more research and development and more deployment.”
He also warned that solar radiation modification, a
controversial technology that involves reflecting the sun’s rays back into
space, was a “poor substitute for mitigation” as it would not address the level
of CO₂ in the atmosphere.
But he added: “I’m aware that many countries are
discussing this . . . Internationally this will become an important debate.”
https://www.ft.com/content/28ace5b8-fe75-4cbe-bfa2-a5ea9a870224
Green Revolution
The amount of food produced
per person worldwide is now 20 percent greater than what it was back in 2005. And back in
2005 it was almost double of what it was back in 1961. Thanks to the Green Revolution and subsequent innovations, crop yields
(i.e., the amount of food produced per unit of land) have also risen. By
producing more food per hectare, we are able to spare more land for other uses
and better preserve the environment. Consider cereal yields:
https://humanprogress.org/how-we-are-beating-hunger-in-5-graphs/
