{"id":7596,"date":"2019-08-08T10:20:19","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T10:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=7596"},"modified":"2019-11-06T08:21:44","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:21:44","slug":"ipcc-report-reveals-tough-land-use-choices-needed-to-stem-climate-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/reports\/7596\/ipcc-report-reveals-tough-land-use-choices-needed-to-stem-climate-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"IPCC report reveals tough land-use choices needed to stem climate crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Johannesburg, South Africa, 8 August 2019 \u2013 Protecting and restoring forests and urgently revamping the global food system through dietary change are the key solutions to the escalating land and climate crisis, an authoritative UN report has found.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report reveals that since the pre-industrial period the temperature over land has already increased 1.53\u00b0C compared with the global average of a 0.87\u00b0C increase, taking into account air above ocean and land. The temperature rise is impacting food security and driving desertification and land degradation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ahead of the report\u2019s release, Greenpeace Switzerland activists unveiled a banner outside the UN meeting saying: \u2018Less Meat = Less Heat. Climate Action NOW!\u2019\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Greenpeace Africa Senior Forest Campaign Manager Irene Wabiwa Betoko said:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSub-Saharan Africa is among the global hotspots experiencing unprecedented heat waves and other extreme weather conditions. Millions on the continent are also confronted with climate related food crisis. These trends can only be averted with strong actions by governments around the world\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfrican governments are particularly responsible for protecting the world’s second largest rainforest and the world\u2019s largest tropical peatlands complex, both located in the Congo Basin. Threatened by rapid deforestation, their protection is essential for the whole planet to store carbon and regulate the climate crisis\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDefending and restoring our forests and changing our food system by eating less meat will help turn the climate and biodiversity crisis into new hope for nature and people. Our land and biodiversity is under enormous pressure, as seen by the devastating fires in Siberia. We need to make some hard choices because we cannot use up our land twice and we\u2019re already over-using it,\u201d said Dr Christoph Thies, Forests and Climate Campaigner at Greenpeace Germany.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo protect our climate and feed the world demands action now. Governments are now compelled to update and enhance their climate action targets in light of the IPCC\u2019s report.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The IPCC\u2019s special report on Climate Change and Land warned that more than a quarter of land is subject to \u201chuman-induced degradation\u201d but multiple solutions can boost both mitigation and adaptation, while also supporting sustainable development goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

The IPCC added that bioenergy, alone or with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), poses high risks to food security and land degradation. \u2018No regret\u2019 options to combat the climate crisis involve forest and natural ecosystem protection and restoration and reduced meat production and consumption.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge is great, but the solutions are many. Changing the way we produce food and what we eat will protect our climate and promote food security. We can free up vital land space being used for animal feed and grazing through healthier plant-rich diets and ecological farming practices that will help sequester carbon in the soil and increase biodiversity,\u201d said Dr Reyes Tirado, Senior Scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratory, University of Exeter.<\/span><\/p>\n

“A drastic drive towards less meat and dairy in our diets is the silver bullet for reducing the impacts of the food system on our health and the health of the planet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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In other findings, the IPCC report found:<\/span><\/p>\n