Our Food System is in a State of Emergency.

Today, farmed animals are responsible for 16.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Unabated, animal agriculture is set to take up 49% of the GHG budget allowable under the Paris Agreement till 2030 and the full budget by 2050. Malnutrition and obesity is on the rise, primary forests are being cleared at an alarming rate, and our soil, land, air and water systems are compromised. There is an urgent need to address food production and consumption to have any chance of staying below 1.5 degrees.

In an effort to limit global warming and the climate crisis, over 50 of the world’s leading scientists have called for a reduction in livestock production from middle and high-income countries. The effort is championed by Dr. Helen Harwatt, Food & Climate Policy Fellow from the Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program, Harvard Law School.

Supporting the scientific community, 50by40, along with 29 partner organisations have signed on to the demands of the letter.

The diversity of civil society organisations – spanning  health, climate change, biodiversity, youth, faith, animal welfare, grassroots, and social justice – illustrates the crucial need to transform the food system as a core issue across multiple sectors.

This letter (also available in Spanish) complements another scientist letter on meat and dairy reduction in OECD countries released during the first week of COP25 in Madrid, Spain.

Find the coverage on the lancet here.

License type: This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Gold OA CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
License link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(19)30245-1
Article link: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(19)30245-1/fulltext

Featured images by Tracy Lundgren on Pixabay and Claudel Rheault on Unsplash.