A look at today s programme, on the first day of negotiations at COP21, gives an idea of the wide area encompassed by climate change discussions. It includes sessions on energy efficiency; renewable energy; agriculture, forestry and other land uses; climate change resilience both on land and in the oceans; cities; and short-term climate pollutants.
There are many ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Most obviously fossil fuels need to be left in the ground and energy produced by alternative, preferably renewable, energy sources.
However, actions can involve many different sectors, such as modifying forestry or agriculture practices, and incorporating more re-used or recycled waste in industrial processes. The Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) of countries, which were submitted before COP21, set out the details of national emissions reduction plans. These have been made publically available to read on the UNFCCC s INDC portal:
http://unfccc.int/focus/indc_portal/items/8766.php1 Click on the Submitted INDCs tab to get an alphabetical list of countries, with their INDCs to download in pdf format. The INDC submitted by the EC and Latvia on behalf of the EU-28 countries, for instance, gives the target of a 40% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 compared to 1990, from energy, industrial, agricultural, waste, and land use, land-use change and forestry emission sources.
Actions to reduce emissions will be implemented in all these areas. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is not the only greenhouse gas, and it is not even the most damaging one in the atmosphere in terms of warming. Greenhouse gases are often expressed as CO2 equivalent, which is calculated by converting the warming potential of around 30 known greenhouse gases so they are equivalent a small amount of a potent gas will be equivalent to a larger amount of a less potent gas.
So for the EU greenhouse gas target, in addition to carbon dioxide, other gases such as methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are also taken into account. Some greenhouse gases are already controlled under the 1989 Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer (a model of international cooperation that inspires the COP). Actions in different sectors (e.g.
energy, agriculture) will involve reducing emissions of different proportions of these greenhouse gases. This morning (1 Dec) there was a Focus on Forests event ( COP21 Lima-Paris Action Agenda Focus on Forests ). Among the panellists at this event were the President of Peru, HRH Charles Prince of Wales and government representatives from France, Brazil, Indonesia, Congo, C te d Ivoire, Cameroon, alongside representatives from NGOs, private companies and the World Bank.
It showcased climate change action for forests at national and subnational levels, which combine economic and sustainability goals. The aim of the event was provide an opportunity to launch an unprecedented set of alliances between diverse government and non-governmental organisations for climate action in the main tropical forest basins. Among the other sessions today, of particular relevant to food issues, was one on the global agricultural transition needed to boost resilience to climate change and reduce emissions.
Six cooperative initiatives were highlighted that could protect the long-term livelihoods of millions of farmers and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The initiatives focus on four key areas: soils in agriculture, the livestock sector, food losses and waste, and sustainable production methods and resilience of farmers. The 4/1000 Initiative: Soils for Food Security and Climate was officially launched today.
This initiative involves hundreds of partners (e.g. developed and developing countries, private foundations, international funds, NGOs and farmers’ organisations). It aims to protect and increase the amount of carbon stored in soils.
The huge quantities of carbon that the world s soils store limits greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Therefore, the type of soil management practiced is an important tool in combatting climate change. Moving towards healthier, more fertile soils marks a transition towards productive and climate-resilient agriculture. The initiative demonstrates that a small increase of 4/1000 per year in the soil carbon stock (for agricultural soils, notably grasslands and pastures, and forest soils) can improve soil fertility and contribute to keeping the global average temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius.
A recently launched initiative for the livestock sector Life Beef Carbon was also highlighted at this session today.
This European initiative aims to promote innovative livestock farming systems to promote sustainability and reduce the contribution of livestock production to greenhouse gas emissions; in particular, to reduce the beef carbon footprint by 15% over 10 years in France, Ireland, Italy and Spain. Other initiatives introduced included the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme aimed at poor farmers in developing countries to generate multiple benefits, and the Blue Growth Initiative led by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to support climate resilience, food security, poverty alleviation and sustainable management of aquatic resources in coastal communities, especially in small island developing states. Meanwhile, the SAVE FOOD Initiative, a global initiative on food loss and waste reduction also involves FAO, in partnership with numerous companies and organisations. A technical platform will be launched during COP21 to measure and reduce food loss and waste from farm to fork . Reducing global food waste could make a big difference to reducing emissions (as global food waste and loss account for 3.3Gt of CO2 equivalent per year, according to figures presented today). The important thing for COP21 is how these initiatives, in around a dozen sectors, all stack up.
Will they be enough to prevent average global temperature rising over 2 C above pre-industrial levels, at which point rapid sea level rises and the release of methane from melting permafrost and hydrates in the oceans will accelerate climate change causing more dangerous and unpredictable impacts.
References
- ^ http://unfccc.int/focus/indc_portal/items/8766.php (unfccc.int)
The post Stephen Nottingham's Food Blog: COP21 – Paris 2015: Day 2 appeared first on News4Security.