How Do We Fix Global Food Systems?
COP29’s Billion-Dollar Question
Better funding for better farming
Amidst increasingly occurrent natural disasters, such as the recent devastating flash floods in Spain and Hurricane Oscar in Cuba, world leaders and government representatives will convene in Baku, Azerbaijan, to advance global climate action. It is indisputable that collective efforts to reach the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming must be accelerated. However, as so often the challenge lies in funding – who will cover the costs?
This year’s climate COP29 has been nicknamed the “finance COP”, as negotiators will be determining how a promised 100 billion dollars will be allocated from developed to developing countries. These early negotiations are crucial to later determining which sectors this money will flow into to lower emissions and build climate resilience.
Agriculture is in the unique position of being both a driver and a victim of the climate crisis. However, only 4,3% of the funds are directed towards it. Animal agriculture alone is responsible for about 1/6th of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions. 46% of the sector’s emissions stem from cow burps – known as enteric fermentation, in which the digestive process of the rumen releases methane. Other sources include manure management, land use change such as deforestation and the large-scale use of fertilizers to grow enough feed to sustain factory farms.
Dangerous distractions we can’t afford
Facing growing societal and political pressure to reform harmful practices, the livestock sector has responded with the myth of “sustainable intensification,” a tactic aimed at preserving the status quo. This approach promises to reduce emissions intensity – that is, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted per kilo of product – whilst sidestepping the urgent need to reduce the sector’s overall emissions. As a result, funds are directed towards shortsighted solutions with unknown long-term effects for both animal welfare and climate mitigation, such as feeding seaweed to cows to inhibit their methane production. Furthermore, Global North countries such as Germany and the U.S. subsidise farms that produce biogas from manure. By assigning an economic value to manure, it incentivises factory farms to grow, resulting in more overall emissions.
A fundamental transformation of our current food systems would not only mitigate climate impacts – it would also reduce the suffering of billions of animals. Each year, over 83 billion animals are slaughtered for food, the majority kept in intensive farming conditions that confine them to overcrowded spaces. Dairy cows are often housed on slatted floors to facilitate manure collection, which restricts their natural movements and results in limb injuries. Moreover, the industry breeds animals solely for productivity, leading to significant suffering: broiler chickens are raised to slaughter weight in as little as four weeks, often experiencing painful joint deformations or bone fractures due to excessive muscle growth. Making this suffering “more sustainable” is not the solution.
Keeping promises
Climate finance is a key opportunity to reassess what type of farming we wish to promote. Global agricultural subsidies must protect the livelihoods of small-scale farmers and pastoralists to
promote local economies and equitable access to food. To achieve meaningful change, factory farming must be phased out, and consumption patterns in high-producing and high-consuming countries need to shift. Reducing the overall number of farmed animals will decrease greenhouse gas emissions and enable a transition to more animal and ecosystem friendly farming models. Many traditional animal husbandry practices work with rather than against their ecosystems. For instance, silvopastoral systems integrate grazing ruminants with trees, providing shade and occupation for the animals and creating a micro-climate that promotes crop growth and increases the farm’s climate resilience.
Scientists have warned that without transforming our food systems, we risk falling short of Paris Agreement targets. We must redirect subsidies to holistic and local farming models to mitigate the climate and environmental impacts of the agrifood sector. At last year’s COP28, 160 countries signed the Leaders’ Declaration on sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems and climate action in which they agreed to reorient policies to decrease emissions in agriculture, whilst bolstering human, animal, and ecosystem health. As policymakers gather this year in Baku and look ahead to COP30 in Brazil, we must ask: will countries keep their promise?
About
Clara Schubert is a veterinarian and works as Farm Animals Policy Officer with a focus on climate policy at the global animal welfare organisation FOUR PAWS International. She uses her previous clinical experience as a large animal veterinarian in rural France to best advocate for how animal welfare practices can help achieve environmental goals. Clara Schubert is leading the FOUR PAWS delegation at COP29 in Baku.
Vera Mair
(she/her)PR International Officer
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FOUR PAWS is the global animal welfare organisation for animals under direct human influence, which reveals suffering, rescues animals in need and protects them. Founded in 1988 in Vienna by Heli Dungler and friends, the organisation advocates for a world where humans treat animals with respect, empathy and understanding. The sustainable campaigns and projects of FOUR PAWS focus on companion animals including stray dogs and cats, farm animals and wild animals – such as bears, big cats and orangutans – kept in inappropriate conditions as well as in disaster and conflict zones. With offices in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Kosovo, the Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, the UK, the USA and Vietnam as well as sanctuaries for rescued animals in eleven countries, FOUR PAWS provides rapid help and long-term solutions. www.four-paws.org