Harry Cockburn - Massive reduction in meat consumption and changes to farming vital to guarantee future food supply
A massive reduction in
the quantity of meat being
consumed combined with huge changes to farming techniques are essential to
guarantee our planet’s future ability to support humanity, a major new report
has warned. The analysis, which
examines future population projections across the planet and the impact of
current farming techniques on the environment, warns
rapid change is vital as global warming causes
pronounced impacts on food production.
For every degree
celsius of additional temperature rise, global wheat yields are estimated to drop
6 per cent, while global rice yields are estimated to fall 10 per cent, the
authors said. The warning comes as
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned the planet is currently “nowhere near on
track” to keep the rise in temperatures below 1.5C. Under current climate
commitments by world leaders, the Earth will be 3C warmer by the end of the
century, the IPCC said. But growing populations
will mean farming 50 per cent more food to support almost 10 billion people in
the next 30 years, according to the new report published in the
journal Nature.
If no changes are
made, the impacts of food production on the environment will rise by up to 90
per cent by 2050, the authors said, meaning the planet will no longer be a
“safe operating space for humanity”. As a result they have
called for the Earth’s population to adopt a plant-based
“flexitarian” diet,
in which meat is typically eaten less than once a week. “An important first
step would be to align national food-based dietary guidelines with the present
evidence on healthy eating and the environmental impacts of diets,”
the report states... read more:
