BUSINESSWEEK MINDANAO
Scientists are poised to deliver a stark condemnation of the damage we are wreaking on the land surface of the planet. We have degraded soils, expanded deserts, felled forests, driven out wildlife, and drained peat lands. In the process, we have turned the land from an asset that combats climate change into a major source of carbon. The scientists will say we must stop abusing the land if we hope to avoid catastrophic climate heating. That's how BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin expressed his worries. And not only his. Many people think the same way.
I learned it from experts: uncultivated land covered with vegetation protects us from overheating because the plants absorb the warming gas CO2 from the air and fix it in the soil.
But the scientists meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, will say the way we farm and grow timber often actually increases emissions of carbon dioxide.
Between a quarter and a third of all greenhouse gas emissions are now estimated to come from land use.
The scientists will warn of a battle for land between multiple competing demands: bio fuels, plant material for plastics and fibres, timber, wildlife, paper and pulp - and food for a growing population.
Their report will say we need to make hard choices about how we use the world’s soil.
And it will offer another warning that our hunger for red meat is putting huge stress on the land to produce animal feed, as well as contributing to half of the world’s emissions of methane - another greenhouse gas.
Following BBC expert Roger Harrabin the document’s being finalized this week among scientists and government officials on the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It will become the most authoritative report yet on the way we use and abuse the land. Scientists hope it will give the issue of land use greater prominence in negotiations on climate change.
The question is how we use it. But each and every one of us can still (!) help our Mother Earth and its climate.
We need to protect as much natural forest as we can, particularly in the tropics! Change diets to eat less red meat and more vegetables. Safeguard peat lands and restore them where possible. Grow plants and trees to produce energy… but only on a small local scale. Do more agro-forestry, where food crops are mixed in with trees. Improve crop varieties.
Farmers in some parts of the world will be hit harder by climate change - also in the Philippines. There’s still some debate. One option is to concentrate intensive farming into the smallest possible area of land, in order to leave as much natural land as possible to soak up CO2.
Another option is to farm in a less intensive, more climate-friendly way – but that means taking up more natural land to compensate.
Either way, the report will warn that the poorest farmers will be hardest hit by global warming, and they’ll be least able to afford new technologies to change the way they farm.
Kelly Levin, from the US green think tank WRI, told BBC News the report should heap pressure on politicians to cut fossil fuel emissions. She said: “If we consider the climate problem hard now, just think about how much harder it will be without the land serving as a large sink for carbon dioxide emissions.”
Prof Jane Rickson from Cranfield University, UK, voiced out: “Increased temperatures and heavier rainfall will aggravate soil erosion, compaction, loss of organic matter, loss of biodiversity, and landslides… many of which are irreversible. “I hope the final IPCC report will be robust enough to motivate politicians and land managers to implement policies and practices that will reverse, mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis”.
In my opinion: I hope too and pray for it.
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