A campaign to spread the vegan message to delegates at the international talks in Cancun is anticipated to highlight the impact emissions from animal farming have on the planet.
Meat Free COP16 is the name given to the movement, which encourages global leaders at the 16th Conference of Parties (COP16) to make what campaigners call an ethical lifestyle choice for world health, for the environment and for animals.
The view from campaigners is that emissions from animal farming are not sufficiently taken into account in international climate talks, even though the United Nations has produced reports that suggest that animal agribusiness is detrimental to the environment and promotes global warming.
According to a recent report from the UN, Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Production and Consumption: Priority Products and Materials from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), shifting to a meat and dairy free diet could be an effective approach to dealing with climate change and its consequences.
“Both meat and dairy, in general require more resources and cause higher emissions than plant-based alternatives,” states the UN report. According to the report, agriculture contributes 14 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
There is no question that to stop global warming, CO2 emissions need to be cut, however according to a 2009 New Scientist article written by Kirk Smith, only about half the warming that has occurred up to now is due to CO2. Methane and nitrous oxide are widely considered to be the most significant GHGs. According to the article, livestock agriculture is a major source of methane and nitrous oxide.
Smith writes that methane is an attractive target for manipulation because “methane is removed from the atmosphere much more rapidly than CO2, with a half-life of 8.5 years compared with many decades for CO2″. Therefore tackling methane could have an earlier impact on the pressing issue of global warming, he suggests.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, as well as being a main emitter of methane, the animal agriculture industry is one of the largest users of land and water, and a major cause of deforestation and biodiversity loss. It also leads to wide-scale land degradation, and is a major polluter of our rivers, oceans and drinking supplies, states the UN department.
“Livestock’s contribution to environmental problems is on a massive scale and its potential contribution to their solution is equally large. The impact is so significant that it needs to be addressed with urgency,” stated the FAO, in 2006.
The Meat Free COP16 organisation states that it hopes delegates in the conference will set a good example by making a stand against animal agriculture. Furthermore they will push for COP16 organisers to provide only plant based meals during the conference, to show their complete resolve to tackle climate change as well as other environmental issues.
In addition, the organisation invites all members of the public to adopt what they call an “environmental, healthy and compassionate choice”.
Although the UN makes statements regarding the detrimental effects of animal agriculture, the issue is not high on the agenda for discussions in COP16. Campaigners of Meat Free COP16 anticipate that highlighting the issue will raise its standing in international talks, so that policies and regulations could be put in place if a collective agreement is reached.
Author: Marianna Keen | Climate Action
