The “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” (IPCC), the UN body that aims at assessing the science related to climate change under the supervision of the World Meterological Organization (WMO) and UN Environment, published yesterday the report “Climate Change and Land”, that, for the first time, highlights the linkages between the use of land and climate changes and suggests possible solutions with the objective of limiting the impact.
The intensive use of land – says the report – due to global population growth, contributes to the desertification process, to the destruction of ecosystems and to the acceleration of climate change. On the other hand, the rise of temperature decreases productivity of agriculture, losses in the nutritional quality of foods and prices increases.
The report also stresses that agriculture and other forms of using land contribute to 23% of gas emissions caused directly or indirectly by men. For IPCC scientists, a more balanced diet based on products considered to be less impactful of carbon emissions (vegetables, fruit, less red meat) could contribute to limiting the emissions for more than 3 tons of CO2 each year.
The Italian Minister of Environment highlights that the report certifies a situation that was, unfortunately, already known, which – as Minister Costa said – “demands the urgent intensification of actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change through the globe”.
Italy wants to be a leader in the fight against climate change: in the European Union, we keep supporting the need to reach the “zero net emissions” by 2050 and curb emissions by 40% by 2030.
The report can be consulted at https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/
