Climate Change Pressures Land and Food Resources, Report Warns
https://eos.org/articles/climate-change-pressures-land-and-food-resources-report-warns
Source: By Randy Showstack, Eos/AGU.
Excerpt: Climate change is putting increased pressure on land and food resources while poor land use and food management are also contributing to climate change, according to a new report issued today, 8 August, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The special report [https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/] on climate change and land details these impacts and outlines near- and long-term actions that can help to mitigate and stave off far worse impacts. ...Among the impacts that climate change is having on land are increases in the frequency and intensity of weather and climate extremes; threats to food security, human health, and terrestrial ecosystems; contributions to desertification; and effects on land degradation through actions such as increased rainfall intensity, flooding, heat stress, and sea level rise. In addition, the report notes that data available since 1961 show that global population growth and changes in per capita consumption of food, feed, fiber, timber, and energy “have caused unprecedented rates of land and freshwater use” and that agriculture currently accounts for about 70% of global freshwater use. The report states that the expansion of areas under agriculture and forestry has supported consumption and food availability for a growing population but that with large regional variation, these changes have contributed to increasing net greenhouse gas emissions, loss of natural ecosystems, and declining biodiversity. ...The report also looks at food from a number of perspectives, including soil erosion, fertilizer use, domestic livestock, food waste, and even individual diets. The report notes, for instance, that climate change affects food security because of warming, changing precipitation patterns, and greater frequency of some extreme events. It states that 25%–30% of total food produced currently is either lost or wasted and that if this amount could be reduced, it could take some pressure off of the need to convert additional land for agriculture. In addition, the report says that “the total technical mitigation potential of dietary changes” by having more people adopt plant-based diets could be as much as 8 gigatons of CO2 equivalent by 2050....
See also New York Times articles Climate Change Threatens the World’s Food Supply, United Nations Warns [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/climate/climate-change-food-supply.html]; Earth’s Food Supply Is Under Threat. These Fixes Would Go a Long Way [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/climate/climate-change-food.html]
Source: By Randy Showstack, Eos/AGU.
Excerpt: Climate change is putting increased pressure on land and food resources while poor land use and food management are also contributing to climate change, according to a new report issued today, 8 August, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The special report [https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/] on climate change and land details these impacts and outlines near- and long-term actions that can help to mitigate and stave off far worse impacts. ...Among the impacts that climate change is having on land are increases in the frequency and intensity of weather and climate extremes; threats to food security, human health, and terrestrial ecosystems; contributions to desertification; and effects on land degradation through actions such as increased rainfall intensity, flooding, heat stress, and sea level rise. In addition, the report notes that data available since 1961 show that global population growth and changes in per capita consumption of food, feed, fiber, timber, and energy “have caused unprecedented rates of land and freshwater use” and that agriculture currently accounts for about 70% of global freshwater use. The report states that the expansion of areas under agriculture and forestry has supported consumption and food availability for a growing population but that with large regional variation, these changes have contributed to increasing net greenhouse gas emissions, loss of natural ecosystems, and declining biodiversity. ...The report also looks at food from a number of perspectives, including soil erosion, fertilizer use, domestic livestock, food waste, and even individual diets. The report notes, for instance, that climate change affects food security because of warming, changing precipitation patterns, and greater frequency of some extreme events. It states that 25%–30% of total food produced currently is either lost or wasted and that if this amount could be reduced, it could take some pressure off of the need to convert additional land for agriculture. In addition, the report says that “the total technical mitigation potential of dietary changes” by having more people adopt plant-based diets could be as much as 8 gigatons of CO2 equivalent by 2050....
See also New York Times articles Climate Change Threatens the World’s Food Supply, United Nations Warns [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/climate/climate-change-food-supply.html]; Earth’s Food Supply Is Under Threat. These Fixes Would Go a Long Way [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/climate/climate-change-food.html]