Climate News

World Economy & Development (WED) Brief

Reconciling Climate and Livestock Production? - The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) is not doing enough according to new WED Brief.  

[EXCERPT] The FAO's suggestions are 'comparable to rearranging deskchairs on the Titanic,' Susanne Gura writes. Particularly, the Worldwatch Institute had come up with new figures correcting FAO's 18% to 51% of anthropogenic CO2 equivalents originating from livestock, and making a number of proposals on how to reduce them fast.  The fact that methane has a half life of only 7 to 8 years triggers the idea of eating less meat to allow time for rendering the energy and transport sectors more sustainable.  FAO, however, promotes business as usual. Read full brief. 

Robert Goodland at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture

January 14-16, 2010 - International Green Week, Berlin - Robert Goodland to present his newest paper - "How the Food Industry Can Reverse Climate Change Quickly and Profitably" at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture.

Meat Consumption Addressed in Copenhagen

December 7-18, 2009 - Mia MacDonald, Brighter Green, cautioned against the increase in global meat consumption that is contributing to climate change. She noted that the contribution to climate change by industrial farmers impacts small-scale agriculture and livestock keepers, and that issues of equity and “climate space” require further attention at the policy level. Click here for COP15 report. 

Robert Goodland attends the FAO Pre-Copenhagen Consultation

December 1 - The FAO invited Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang to participate in pre-Copenhagen consultations in response to their article “Livestock and Climate Change” published in World Watch magazine.

Robert Goodland's 10-page brief "Forests, Fisheries, Agriculture: A Vision for Sustainability" - prepared for the FAO meeting, December 2-4, 2009 - Rome.

From the intro:

Between the FAO’s founding in 1945 and today, worldwide human population has roughly tripled, while the livestock population has increased more than six times.  As a result, livestock have changed from being one of many sectors dependent on natural capital to being today’s top determinant of the future of natural capital.  Notably, worldwide each year, livestock are the leading driver of deforestation, while consuming up to half the catch of marine organisms and as much as half of all crops brought to market. (full brief - PDF)

Profits and Politics Over People - Bill Passes

October 27 - Just a week after the World Watch article, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill (HR 2996) that includes a much contested amendment from Idaho’s Mike Simpson that: "prevents the Environmental Protection Agency from being allowed to gather any data on the contribution that animal agriculture makes to climate change." This is finalized bill... its next step is to the President.