The global food system is playing a major role in biodiversity loss, species extinction and climate change, and a shift to a plant-based diet is needed to solve the crisis, according to a new report.
The report by think think Chatham House published on Wednesday by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) says that biodiversity, which is at the heart of the well-being of humankind and the Earth, is declining faster than time any other in human history.
The global food system, including agriculture and cheap food production, is the main driver of the decline, the report said. The researchers found that agricultural practices threaten 86% of the 28,000 endangered species.
Low-cost food production creates a “vicious circle,” raising the demand for cheap food, the researchers said. Low-cost food production uses harmful methods, such as excessive use of fertilizers, poisons, energy, land and water, and unsustainable farming methods such as monoculture and heavy tilling. In addition, an increase in demand has led to more intensive agricultural production that will further erode soils and ecosystems and lead to less productive land that requires intensive harmful methods.
“The more we manage food production, the cheaper the food becomes, the more our diet becomes controlled by a smaller number of intensively grown and scaled crops, Tim Benton, Chatham House ‘s director of research into emerging threats, said in an email to CNN.
“As we grow more food, it will be economically reasonable to waste it, convert the calories and feed grain to stock so we can eat more meat. Fuel demand is leading to growth in supply and falling prices, leading to more land conversion and intensification, ”said Benton.
The global food system also accounts for about 30% of human emissions, driving climate change, the researchers found.
This finds squares with several studies published over the past decade. According to a study published in November by researchers in the US and UK, if the global food system maintains its normal path, it will produce about 1.5 trillion tonnes of greenhouse gases over the next 80 years through agricultural practices, food production and waste. Switching to a plant-based diet worldwide could reduce around 720 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases while using more carbon-efficient farming methods reducing emissions by 600 billion tonnes, a finding the study.
Chatham House researchers said a global shift to a plant-based diet is essential to halt the loss of diversity by addressing the unequal impact of livestock farming on biodiversity, land use and the environment. For example, 100 grams of tofu requires one-seventy-fifths of the land used to make 100 grams of beef, Benton said. Switching to a diet based on plant consumption would greatly reduce the soil’s carbon footprint. This in turn would reduce the need for conversion and land tenure, reduce risks to biodiversity and reduce emissions.
The researchers also emphasized the importance of using farming methods that are environmentally friendly and support the Earth’s biodiversity, such as limiting tillage and abandoning monoculture farming practices and adapting to multiculturalism instead.
The threats to biodiversity are becoming increasingly critical. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity last year warned that nearly a third of the Earth needs to be protected by 2030 and pollution cut by half to save our remaining wildlife.
“Biodiversity offers a huge range of things that we depend on in a subtle and less subtle way. From the way soil microbes break down organic matter and increase soil fertility, to natural enemies eating pests or pollinators enabling much of our fruit and vegetable supply; trees generate oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, ”explained Benton.
It has also been found that a whole plant diet has health benefits. A 2019 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that people who adopted a plant-based diet were 23% less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes. A plant-based diet may have the potential to prevent and treat dementia, while red meat consumption has been linked to more health problems, according to two other studies published in 2019.