Gerard Wynn Reuters 9 Dec 09;
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - U.N. climate talks have neglected a food crisis, including measures which can both curb climate change and boost food production, the head of the U.N.'s food agency said.
"We would like to see greater conscience of the importance (of agriculture)," Jacques Diouf, director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told Reuters in an interview this week at the Copenhagen climate talks.
"Historically the discussion centered on the industrial aspects of climate change, be it in terms of factories, transport, but less on the primary sector of agriculture."
The December 7-18 meeting of 192 countries in the Danish capital is meant to agree the outlines of a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, for a full climate treaty to be signed next year.
Certain farm practices, especially in low-income countries, can heal degraded lands and therefore boost food yields in the longer term, the FAO says.
Practices such as cutting stocking rates and applying organic materials to the land can also sequester the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the soil equivalent to as much as 10 percent of global emissions, and so help slow warming.
Farming is also a major emitter as it helps drive deforestation. When that indirect effect is included, farming accounts for nearly a third of global greenhouse gases.
"Roughly around 31 percent of emissions come from agriculture ... hence the impact of good policies to lessen the negative impact and good policies to increase the capacity for carbon sequestration," Diouf said.
"FOOD IS CULTURE"
Some farm measures which boost soil carbon -- called conservation agriculture -- such as "catch crops" which cover bare soil can also retain water and so help farmers prepare for global warming, scientists say.
So far, negotiators in Copenhagen have proposed a "work program" of further research into farm methods which cut emissions, and are expected to announce the outlines of a deal to compensate countries which slow deforestation.
They are also expected to fund steps which help developing countries prepare for climate change, and many poorer countries have included agriculture in those plans.
"I'd like to see that we have a financial mechanism to encourage countries which have forests not to do deforestation. I would like also to see conservation agriculture is given the necessary incentives," Diouf said, when asked what he wanted from the Copenhagen talks.
The present Kyoto Protocol forces rich countries which have ratified the pact to limit their greenhouse gases but allows them entirely to omit emissions from farming.
In addition, lucrative measures under Kyoto which allow rich countries to pay for carbon cuts in developing nations do not apply to agriculture or preserving forests, except in the case where pig farms trap the potent greenhouse gas methane to earn carbon offsets, or if farmers plant trees.
Some scientists say that greenhouse gas emissions from raising cattle have been severely underestimated -- and may account for as much as half of the global total -- prompting many scientists to recommend that people eat less meat.
Diouf would not go so far as to suggest hard targets for consumers such as "meat-free days."
"We have to educate people, ensure that there are better ways of producing meat. Food is an element of culture, of civilization, you don't just change it overnight."
(Editing by James Jukwey)
At climate talks, UN agency makes 'call to action' on hunger
Yahoo News 9 Dec 09;
COPENHAGEN (AFP) – The UN emergency food agency Wednesday launched a "call to action" to help the world's farmers prepare for the effects of global warming.
"This is not a call of desperation, but a call to action," said Josette Sheeran, head of the World Food Programme, urging participants at UN climate talks here to make "a bold and robust commitment to community-based adaptation" to help vulnerable people cope with climate change.
The WFP predicts that more frequent and intense natural disasters, deteriorating land productivity and reduced access to food and water will increase the risk of hunger around the world.
"We can't really let down our guard," Sheeran told journalists in a conference call on the sidelines of the talks in Copenhagen.
Recalling the height of the 2007-08 food price crisis, when "virtually overnight 150 million people joined the ranks of the hungry," Sheeran warned that the "drivers of vulnerability are still in place," predicting continued volatility in prices and supply "for the foreseeable future."
For now, Sheeran said, "The emergency numbers have gone way up, requiring action at historic levels despite the generosity of more than 100 nations that give to us."
However, the WFP executive director said the agency was "tremendously optimistic" despite growing vulnerability, notably with dry areas getting drier and wet regions becoming wetter.
"The world has the ability to get these numbers of hungry down even with the challenges faced," she said.
A new report by the WFP titled "Climate Change and Hunger, Responding to the Challenge," predicts that "by 2050, the number of people at risk of hunger as a result of climate change is expected to increase by 10 to 20 percent more than would be expected without climate change."
It adds: "Responding to increased hunger and malnutrition caused by the effects of climate change is expected to be a major focus of WFP?s work in the 21st century."
"The world needs to perhaps double the amount of food it produces by 2020," the WFP executive director said Wednesday.
