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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/29/sustainable-food-production-economic-benefits-study>
"A shift towards a more sustainable global food system could create up to $10tn
(£7.9tn) of benefits a year, improve human health and ease the climate crisis,
according to the most comprehensive economic study of its type.
It found that existing food systems destroyed more value than they created due
to hidden environmental and medical costs, in effect, borrowing from the future
to take profits today.
Food systems drive a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, putting the
world on course for 2.7C of warming by the end of the century. This creates a
vicious cycle, as higher temperatures bring more extreme weather and greater
damage to harvests.
Food insecurity also puts a burden on medical systems. The study predicted a
business-as-usual approach would leave 640 million people underweight by 2050,
while obesity would increase by 70%.
Redirecting the food system would be politically challenging but bring huge
economic and welfare benefits, said the international team of authors behind
the study, which aims to be the food equivalent of the Stern review, the 2006
examination of the costs of climate change.
Johan Rockström, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and one
of the study’s authors, said: “The global food system holds the future of
humanity on Earth in its hand.”
The study proposes a shift of subsidies and tax incentives away from
destructive large-scale monocultures that rely on fertilisers, pesticides and
forest clearance. Instead, financial incentives should be directed towards
smallholders who could turn farms into carbon sinks with more space for
wildlife.
A change of diet is another key element, along with investment in technologies
to enhance efficiency and cut emissions.
With less food insecurity, the report says, undernutrition could be eradicated
by 2050, with 174 million fewer premature deaths, and 400 million farm workers
able to earn a sufficient income. The proposed transition would help to limit
global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels and halve nitrogen run-offs
from agriculture.
Overall, they estimate the costs of the transformation at between 0.2% and 0.4%
of global GDP per year."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
