ANALYSIS-Farms on the radar at Copenhagen climate talks

... farm livestock account for 51 percent of all global greenhouse gases....

13 Nov 2009

U.N. negotiators will next month put farming onto the radar of climate regulations for the first time, but governments face aggressive lobbies and gaps in the science proving the extent of agricultural emissions.

Farming is both a likely victim of climate changes including more droughts and floods, and a cause, through the release of greenhouse gases from fertilisers and cattle. The sector also has a wide impact through soil management(...)

"They're lucky to have got away with it this far, it should be included in a U.S. climate bill and in Copenhagen," said Robert Goodland, formerly of the World Bank and co-author of a report which last month caused a stir by estimating that farm livestock account for 51 percent of all global greenhouse gases.

The estimate included carbon emissions from burning trees to clear land for cattle, and cows' respiration as well as their methane-rich burps, and took account of new research suggesting methane is a stronger greenhouse gas than previously thought...

Source: ANALYSIS-Farms on the radar at Copenhagen climate talks

Link: About that environmental impact of eating meat
Link: Apec leaders drop climate target/Asia-Pacific leaders say it will not be possible to reach a climate change deal ahead of the UN conference in Copenhagen
Link: Australia Excludes Farms From Carbon Scheme
Link: Climate talks seek to salvage U.N. Copenhagen deal
Link: Russia's Medvedev warns of climate catastrophe


Other EVANA-articles about this topic:
Forget Fields - the Future of Farming May be in Urban High Rises ()