Diets must change to save planet from global warming
Global food chains need to drastically change in a bid to curb global warming, a body of UN experts have warned.
A report on climate change impacts called for changes in land management practices, food production and consumption.
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Changes in global population growth have sparked unprecedented land and water use, experts said. They called for major changes to eating habits, but stopped short of explicitly promoting meat-free food.
A switch to more plant-based foods and sustainable animal produce could free up millions of vast swathes of land by 2050 and slash emissions by 700m to 8bn tonnes a year, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said.
“Delaying action … could result in some irreversible impacts on some ecosystems, which in the longer term has the potential to lead to substantial additional emissions from ecosystems that would accelerate global warming,” it said.
Before the report was released, Greenpeace activists protested outside a meeting of the IPCC with banners reading: “Less Meat = Less Heat. Climate Action NOW!”
The food chain is responsible for around a third of global emissions, the report said, and agriculture uses 70 per cent of freshwater consumption.
The IPCC warned last year that the world would need to make rapid changes to limit global temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
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The report today said that extreme weather brought on by climate change could drive up cereal prices by 7.6 per cent to 2050, increasing hunger around the world.
More than 800m people are undernourished in the world today, while about 2bn adults are overweight or obese.