Today, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released
a damming report on climate change and the devastating effects of
desertification, land degradation, land management its
consequences for people, animals, the environment and climate.
The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament call on the
European Commission to present a new proposal for the reform of
the European Common Agricultural Policy to protect soil,
environment and climate and halt biodiversity loss.
Bas Eickhout, climate spokesperson for the
Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, calls for
sustainable protection of forests and land:
"This new report shows us once again that there is absolutely
no time to waste for climate action. The loss of forests and land
poses a dramatic threat to people, animals, the environment and
the climate. We need an urgent freeze on illegal logging and
clear rules for the protection of forests and land to guarantee
food security, tackle the climate crisis and meet the Paris
climate targets. Forest and land protection is climate
protection".
Molly Scott Cato, agriculture spokesperson for
the Greens/EFA Group, calls on the European Commission to present
a new proposal for the reform of the European Agricultural
Policy:
"We are still living with an agriculture policy from the
1950s. Today, Europe’s most serious crises are climate change and
loss of life in the countryside. We need an agriculture policy
that stops creating these problems and becomes part of a
sustainable future. Eliminating food waste and using farming
practices that work with land rather than forcing production with
fertiliser or killing the soil with pesticides is the right way
to tackle the climate crisis.
"The IPCC makes clear that the opportunities to use our land
as a carbon sink is a necessary party of staying with the
1.5-degree warming limit. The European Commission must present a
new proposal for the reform of the Common European Agricultural
Policy in order to halt the extinction of species and make
agriculture a European climate protector."
