Rūta Pelikšienė, a phD sociology student at Kaunas University of Technology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, and researcher at the Research group Civil Society and Sustainability.
Climate change and biodiversity loss no longer remain future problems. At this point in time, such phenomena have a significant impact on our lives. Without taking proper action, we will face even more serious consequences affecting almost every aspect of our lives. Which is why it is not surprising that not only scientists, but also politicians are discussing ways of tackling the consequences of climate change and biodiversity loss.
November of 2024 was significant in the research on climate change, as 2 prestigious international conferences on the same topic were held. Hundreds of delegates participated in the conferences from various fields: science, politics, non-governmental organisations, journalism, and other interested parties.
At the beginning of November, the delegates participated in the United Nations (UN) Biodiversity Conference of the Parties (COP16) held at Cali, Columbia. As soon as the conference in Columbia was over, the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) took place in Baku, Azerbaijan.
During COP conferences, people of various groups, opinions and interests and from various countries gather. Therefore, these conferences remain an integral and crucial platform for achieving mutual goals in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss. Despite the fact that the topics of this year’s conferences differed, they were still closely linked. One of the most important links, though often overlooked, is the food topic.
Biodiversity is not only essential for nature
Preservation of biodiversity is not only the preservation of wildlife, animals, and plants. Biodiversity is crucial to ensure the security of food systems—global and intricate networks including food production and consumption processes from farm to fork. The connection between biodiversity and food systems is significant.
Our eating habits have a major impact on the Earth’s biodiversity. The land expansion for farming, deforestation, the use of pesticides in agriculture, ant the destruction of natural ecosystems profoundly contribute to the loss of animal and plant species and the impoverishment of global biodiversity.
Biodiversity is critical in ensuring the food systems’ security, resilience, and the ability to feed a growing population. This can be illustrated in several ways. For example, the diversity of bacteria, fungus, and microbes is essential to ensure healthy soil. Pollinating insects are necessary for the reproduction of most food crops. Therefore, their loss directly affects food systems.
The lower the biodiversity in agriculture, the more toxic pesticides are needed to defend against pests. Biodiversity is also crucial in building the resilience of food systems to the consequences of climate change, such as droughts and floods.
The COP16 conference focused on discussing the progress towards reaching the goals set out in the Kunming-Montreal Global Diversity Framework of 2022. This framework is thought to be historical for its ambitious goals to preserve the planet’s biodiversity.
One of such goals is to ensure that by 2030 nearly one third of the damaged terrestrial, inland waterway, marine, and coastal ecosystems would be restored, while one third of the aforementioned areas would be protected.
To reach many biodiversity protection goals set out in the Kunming-Montreal framework, significant changes in the global food systems are a must. However, nothing about food systems has been ever mentioned in the previous document, despite them being identified as a key factor in the loss of biodiversity in various reports by international organisations, including the UN.
Therefore, it is not surprising that food systems did not become a major topic of the COP16 conference. On the other hand, one of the most significant achievements of this conference was the explicitly stated link between biodiversity and climate change, and the need to discuss these closely related problems.
Climate change and sustainability in our plates
The participants of the COP29 conference gathered in Baku to disuss climate change. The topic of finances became the key element and the main topic of the conference—scientists discussed ways and means of financing the climate policy measures to achieve the Paris Agreement targets. However, many other topics were also discussed on the other days of the conference. One day was dedicated for the topic of Food, Agriculture, and Water.
Food systems are crucial in the context of climate change. It is stated in this year’s report of UN Sustainable Development Goals that food systems cause one third of the global greenhouse gas emissions. Farming accounts for approximately 60% of the emissions. Which is why it is so crucial to reduce our independency on animal origin products and to transform the current trends of food consuming to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions.
A special 2023 report of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) forecasts that the global meat consumption will increase by at least half by 2050. The growing global demand for meat causes the demand for more land, loss of natural habitats, and ecological pollution. This has a detrimental impact on both climate change and biodiversity.
Unfortunately, the world leaders missed the oportunity in COP29 to make a breakthrough in this field. The most striking achievement on the topic of food systems can be considered the Baku Harmoniya Climate Initiative for Farmers.
This initiative aims to provide a platform for collaboration and improve the conditions for investment in food systems’ transitions in the public and private sectors. Additionaly, it shall support the development of climate-resilient rural areas and communities. However, not one of these stated goals are ambitious enough or directed towards promoting the necessary changes in food systems.
How not to swallow our planet?
So, how do we not swallow our planet when facing climate change, biodiversity loss, and the continuing lack of attention to the changes in food systems from our world leaders? When looking forward to global changes, it is important to remember that the transformation of food systems occurs at all levels of our lives. Therefore, it makes sense to start with yourself.
The aforementioned UN report of 2023 highlights the fact that many still choose products of animal origin for the taste. Personal decision is sufficient enough to change such consumption patterns. For example, one can eliminate animal origin products from their diet once or two weekly. Besides, a balanced plant-based diet is not only friendly for the environment and the planet, but for the health, too.
EAT-Lancet Commision’s report states that the global shift towards plant-based diet would save around 11 million lives yearly.
We can also contribute to the global changes in food systems in other ways. For example, by not wasting the food. The Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) states that food waste takes up around 8–10% of the greenhouse gas emissions. This number is five times bigger than the emissions of aviation industry. Therefore, even without switching to a plant-based diet we can contribute to the wellbeing of our planet.
The solution to climate change and biodiversity loss is in our hands. And on our plates.
